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Electro~optic
We describe a novel type of electro-optic light modulator which we have used to generate optical sidehands 72
GHz off the carrier frequency of a 633 nm He-Ne laser. This
modulation frequency is several times higher than previously demonstrated with cw electro-optic modulators. I An electro-optic crystal is placed as a resonant etalon in an open
microwave Fabry-Perot resonator (Fig. 1), and the laser
beam follows a zig-zag path inside the crystal under total
internal reflections so that phase matching is achieved and
transit time limitations are overcome. A rdated technique
has been used by Kaminov et al. 2 to mix the 0.96 THz hydrogen. cyanide laser with optical radi3.tion.
We believe that this modulator can operate at any microwave frequency from a few ten GHz up, limited only by
the availability of mm-wave sources. The applicability of
phase-modulated optical waves is hence extended significantly, for example, in high-resolution FM spectroscopy,3
for optical frequency synthesis;1 or also for optical communications.
Phase modulation of the HeNe laser is proportional to
the electro-optic coefficientS r33 = 3 X 10- 11 m/V of the thin
parallel-plate LiNbO, crystal with optical z axis parallel to
the polarizations of both optical and microwave radiation. A
Fabry-Perot cavity, which is formed by two 25-mm-diam
ccpper mirrors of 100 mm radius at a separation of
3ii. mm = 12.6 mm, serves to enhance the microwave field
strength. The resonator is driven by the 200 m W output of a
reflex klystron. A Q of about 10 000 is measured for the
empty cavity.
The thickness of the wafer is chosen as 1 microwavelength, d = Ammlnmnt = O.S mm, for an index of refraction
flmn' = 5.5. Insertion of the crystal reduces the Q factor to
values between 100 and 2000 depending on its position.
Therefore, the losses of the resonator are dominated by crystal absorption and almost all the power coupled into the
resonator is delivered to the crystaL For small losses per
single pass the microwave field amplitude ED is related to the
power P absorbed in a crystal volume V through the imaginary part of the complex dielectric function c mm :
P IV =
10-"
I
"electro optic
crystal
(l)
field, EpuJEill = nmrn = [Re(Emm)] 1/2 at nodes. 6 The latter case corresponds to the maximum total energy stored in
the resonator and hence the maximum Q value. In our experiment the LiNb0 3 etdon is adjusted to this configuration
since it is favored by the weak coupling of a dipole antenna 7
that allows some mechanical tunability of the coupling
strength in our apparatus. Residual resonator reflection is
about 20%, so that most of the incident microwave power is,
in fact, used for the refractive index modulation.
The node location of the crystal surfaces furthermore
requires an optical path for which the projection of tile optical phase velocity on the resonator axis (Fig. 2),
c' = ccos ()/n oPt (n OP1 = 2,2),istwicethemicrowavephase
velocityemm = c/n mm as is explained in Fig. 3. The corresponding angle is = 38, wen beyond the critical angle (27
at 633 nm) for the LiNb0 3 , and the laser beam undergoes 30
reflections on passing the 20 mm crystal length.
After passing the laser beam through the LiNbO; etalon, it is analyzed by means of a monochromator with 10
GHz resolution. Symmetric sidebands are observed (Fig. 4)
in phase with the mm-wave radiation, which is chopped at
300 Hz. From the sidehand to carrier intensity ratio, S /
C = 2.5 X
we estimate a modulation index b = 5%,
where the phase-modulated sine wave is given by
eo"t = eo sin rult + {5 ( (3) sin !1t- 50]' and to is a time-dependent phase offset due to the total internal reflections.
0003-61351/89/171622-03$01.00
1622
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'i
./td
2j.3
,
Jd
~(j
2j .2
2H
(,\
cos S/nopl
2j
'
~! ~~~~
Q!;ao
x C/l'lmm
~I
L.----<--------l.!-------,I
632.5
632.8
633.1
Wavelength (nm l
FIG. 4. Spcctmm of the phase-modulated HcNe laser beam at 633 urn. The
central carrier is largely suppressed by lock-in detection.
n~Pt r3.\wO J
8(t)=tr .'
Sin
)"OPt
T,c
IV' .drEmm[r(r),r+t]
~
~
= 8(O)sin(flt).
(2)
---!(mrn
x]
8<1>/
=r:
8
_0
Tltl
FIG. 3. Phase-matching conditions. Across the width of the crystal the microwave amplitude is shown vs time. Positive lldds symholiz.e an increased
index of refraction for the laser light, and the zig-zag lines show the propagation of an optical wave front experiencing maximum retardation. (a) For
a crystal of width Am", and with antinodes at the surfaces, optimum phase
matching is achieved for c' ~= Cnnn or e ~~ 66'. With nodes at the surfaces no
net phase modulation is obtained for fI = 66'. Optimum phase matching is
achieved in this case for c' .~c 2eo'", or {J ,~, 38'.
1623
-l
T)
2(j -- t )rd
i~;d;)TddrCOS(nt+8n+7)}
(4)
Numerical
calculation
yields
+ 71) ]2}.
theoretical
(5)
value
periment.
Kallenbach et al.
1623
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The sensitivity of the method with respect to angle mismatch and crystal thickness variations is also given by Eq.
(5), indicating a half-width of 1j = 3% for thickness variations and of 88 = 1 for angle dctunings. These estimates
show that the method is reasonably stable against technical
im perfections.
The modulation index can be increased by using a higher microwave field strength or a longer interaction time 7",.
Even a simple triple pass of the light beam would give an
immediate ninefold enhancement of the sideband intensity.
A modulation index of 10 or more may ultimately be possible.
We gratefully acknowledge lending of microwave
equipment by M. Munich of the Institute for Plasmaphysics
(lPP) at Garching, FRG. Crystals were polished by M. Oswald, also at the IPP. L. Eft} manufactured the resonator
mirrors.
0
1624
'1'. F. Gallagher, N. H. Tran, and J. P. Watjcn, AppJ. Opt. 25, 510 (1986).
cI. P. Kaminov, T. J. Bridges, and M. A. Pollack, App!. Phys. Lett. 16,416
(1970); reprinted in, I. P. Kaminov, An Introduction to Electrooptic Devices (Academic, New York, 1974).
-'G. C. Bjorklund, Opt. Lett. 5,15 (1980).
4K. M. Evenson, O. W. Day, J. S. Wells, and L O. Mullen. App!. Phys.
Lett. 211,133 (1972).
'The rf value for the electro-optic coefficient is used here. To our knowledge
il has not been measured for the very high frequencies employed in our
experiment. The index of refraction is nearly constant for frequencies
between 65 MHz and 7 THz. See Ref. I and L P. Kaminov and E. H.
Turner, Froc. IEEE 54,1374 (1966).
6A simple arugment explains this behavior: At an antinode the tangential
electric field is continuous and hence the field strength inside and outside.
At a node the tangential magnetic field is maximum and continuous; its
amplitude lS related to the electric .field by the index of refraction,
IHI = /liEI, from which the ratio of the electric field strengths inside and
outside follows.
7U. Harbarth, J. Kowalski, R. Neumann, S. Noehte, K. Scheffzek, and G.
zu Putlitz, J. Phys. E 20,409 (1987).
KA. Yariv and P. Yeh, Optical Waves in Crystals (Wiley, New York, 1984).
Kallenbach et al.
1624
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