Acoustooptic Interaction in A LiNbO3 Spherical Waveguide

Abstract

Recent progress on both fabrication techniques and performances of optical waveguides and individual active devices have been most significant. Nevertheless, undesirable performance of the present planar waveguide lenses remains to be one of the major obstacles toward eventual realization of planar integrated optic modules and circuits for wideband signal processing applications. The present planar waveguide lenses suffer from undesirable performance characteristics that include small light beam aperture, high optical loss, critical tolerance in lens placement and separation, and long focal length. Large focal length will result in a large substrate size and, thus, high optical through-put loss, severe waveguide scattering, and high ultimate cost. In this paper we report on a LiNbO3 spherical waveguide structure that simultaneously serves to guide, collimate, and focus the light beams.