Integrated Optical Signal Processing Devices Employing Magnetostatic Waves

Optical techniques are being increasingly called upon to meet the ever-growing data rate requirements of communications and signal processing applications. A new class of magneto-optical devices1,2 based on Bragg diffraction of light by magnetostatic waves (MSWs) offers the potential of extending optical processing capabilities from the present acousto-optical Limitation of a few GHz to large time-bandwidth signal processing at 20 GHz and beyond. These devices take a thin-film integrated optical form in order to avoid shape-factor demagnetization effects.1,3 The interacting MSW and guided-optical waves thus propagate in a common ferrite film, as illustrated in Fig. 1.