CN113126372A - Optical waveguide interference structure - Google Patents
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- CN113126372A CN113126372A CN201911392647.2A CN201911392647A CN113126372A CN 113126372 A CN113126372 A CN 113126372A CN 201911392647 A CN201911392647 A CN 201911392647A CN 113126372 A CN113126372 A CN 113126372A
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- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 title claims abstract description 115
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 38
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 21
- 230000001902 propagating effect Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 16
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 11
- 239000004973 liquid crystal related substance Substances 0.000 claims description 41
- VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicium dioxide Chemical compound O=[Si]=O VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 16
- 238000005253 cladding Methods 0.000 claims description 8
- 235000012239 silicon dioxide Nutrition 0.000 claims description 8
- 239000000377 silicon dioxide Substances 0.000 claims description 8
- 150000001875 compounds Chemical class 0.000 claims description 3
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 3
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000002360 preparation method Methods 0.000 abstract description 2
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 6
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 5
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 3
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- 230000006978 adaptation Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 2
- GQYHUHYESMUTHG-UHFFFAOYSA-N lithium niobate Chemical compound [Li+].[O-][Nb](=O)=O GQYHUHYESMUTHG-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000005693 optoelectronics Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000013078 crystal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000005684 electric field Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229920005570 flexible polymer Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000011521 glass Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000010365 information processing Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000010354 integration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002452 interceptive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
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- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000004148 unit process Methods 0.000 description 1
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
- G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
- G02F1/1343—Electrodes
- G02F1/134309—Electrodes characterised by their geometrical arrangement
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
- G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
- G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
- G02B6/122—Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths
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Abstract
The invention provides an optical waveguide interference structure, which comprises a first substrate layer, a first core arm, a second core arm, a phase modulation layer and a second substrate layer, the first core arm and the second core arm are symmetrically arranged on the first substrate layer, at least one of the first core arm and the second core arm is in contact with the phase modulation layer in at least one plane, the second base material layer is disposed on the phase modulation layer, wherein the refractive indices of the first and second core arms are the same, the refractive index of the first substrate layer and the refractive index of the phase modulation layer are both less than the refractive indices of the first and second core arms, the change in the optical properties of the phase modulation layer produces a phase change in light propagating within the first core arm and/or the second core arm. The optical waveguide interference structure disclosed by the invention has the advantages of high switching speed, low power consumption, simple structure, small volume and low preparation cost.
Description
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the field of optoelectronic devices, and particularly relates to an optical waveguide interference structure containing liquid crystal.
Background
In the digital age, people have more and more demands on high-speed, large-capacity and low-delay information processing. Driven by large data applications such as cloud computing, telecommunications, high-definition video transmission, interactive entertainment, internet of things, etc., the size of information streams that need to be processed per day inside data centers and network switching nodes has reached more than 5 gigabytes (ZB, 1ZB is equivalent to 270B), which is equivalent to more than 4 times the current global network traffic, and this speed will continue to increase at a rate of 27% per year. Information exchange is one of the most important tasks borne by data centers and network nodes, and directly influences the use experience of people on big data applications. The conventional information exchange unit is implemented mainly in an optical-electrical-optical manner, that is, an optical signal for communication is first converted into an electrical signal and input to a server or a memory, and the electrical signal is converted into an optical signal and output after the required information exchange is completed in an electrical domain, and the optical signal is continuously transmitted to the next communication device. Therefore, the traditional information exchange technology is limited by electrical speed and bandwidth bottlenecks, and great conversion power consumption is brought in the photoelectric conversion and electro-optical conversion processes, so that the operation cost of the equipment is increased. In addition, for the optical wavelength division multiplexing technology widely used at present, the "optical-electrical-optical" switching technology requires multiplexing/demultiplexing and optical-electrical-optical conversion, resulting in an extremely large volume of optical information switching equipment. Therefore, how to make the information exchange unit process massive data with lower cost, lower power consumption, smaller device size, larger working bandwidth and faster speed has become the most major problem for the data center and the network exchange node.
Optical switching technology developed in recent years provides a promising solution to the above problems. On one hand, light naturally has the characteristics of high speed, broadband, low power consumption and low time delay, and does not need light-electricity-light conversion when information is exchanged, so that the operation power consumption of the exchange equipment can be greatly reduced, and the volume of the equipment is reduced. On the other hand, compared with electrical switching, the data bit rate, signal format and protocol of optical switching are transparent, and the diversified requirements of data rate and modulation format can be met. The current commercial optical switches mainly comprise Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) switches, magneto-optical switches, silicon dioxide planar waveguide type switches, III-V material type electro-optical switches, lithium niobate type electro-optical switches and the like. The MEMS switch usually utilizes the action of electrostatic force to generate micro-mechanical motion to change the direction of the micro-reflector, thereby realizing the function of changing the light path. In addition, any mechanical device has a lifetime concern due to mechanical strain. The magneto-optical switch mainly utilizes the Faraday optical rotation effect generated by the magneto-optical crystal under the action of an external magnetic field to change the polarization plane of incident polarized light so as to realize the switching of an optical path. The silicon dioxide planar waveguide type optical switch is mainly realized by relying on the thermo-optic effect of silicon dioxide, is simple to manufacture and has good stability, but the device size is larger due to the fact that the refractive index difference of the silicon dioxide waveguide is small, and the type of switch is slow in response speed and high in power consumption. The III-V material type electro-optical switch is mainly realized by combining a semiconductor optical amplifier with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer or a micro-ring resonator, and the device has better linear electro-optical effect and can compensate loss due to the fact that the device is formed by direct band gap materials, but the manufacturing process is complex, the production cost is high, the power consumption is high, and large-scale integration cannot be achieved. The lithium niobate type electro-optical switch has high switching speed which can reach nanosecond level, but has very large size and high voltage required by modulation. By combining the characteristics of the optical switch, it can be seen that there is still a need to develop an optical switch with low cost, low power consumption, small size, large bandwidth and high speed to meet the market demand.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an optical waveguide interference structure, including a first substrate layer, a first core arm, a second core arm, a phase modulation layer, and a second substrate layer, where the first core arm and the second core arm are symmetrically disposed on the first substrate layer, at least one of the first core arm and the second core arm forms at least one surface contact with the phase modulation layer, and the second substrate layer is disposed on the phase modulation layer, where the refractive indexes of the first core arm and the second core arm are the same, the refractive index of the first substrate layer and the refractive index of the phase modulation layer are both smaller than the refractive indexes of the first core arm and the second core arm, and a change in optical performance of the phase modulation layer generates a phase change in light propagating in the first core arm and/or the second core arm.
In an alternative embodiment, the optical waveguide interference structure includes a cladding layer disposed between the first substrate layer and the phase modulation layer, the cladding layer surrounding the first core arm and the second core arm, the cladding layer having a refractive index less than the refractive index of the first core arm and the second core arm.
In a preferred embodiment, the phase modulation layer includes a liquid crystal layer, a first alignment layer disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer facing the second substrate layer, and a first conductive layer disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer facing the first substrate layer, the first conductive layer including a first conductive electrode and a second conductive electrode disposed on both sides of the first core arm, respectively. In a preferred embodiment, the optical properties of the liquid crystal layer are changed by applying a voltage between the first conductive electrode and the second conductive electrode. In another preferred embodiment, the phase difference between the light propagating in the first core arm and the light propagating in the second core arm is arbitrarily modulated between 0 and 2 pi.
In a preferred embodiment, the first conductive layer further comprises a third conductive electrode and a fourth conductive electrode disposed on either side of the second core arm.
In an alternative embodiment, the phase modulation layer further comprises a second conductive layer disposed between the first alignment layer and the second substrate layer. In another alternative embodiment, the phase modulation layer further comprises a second alignment layer disposed between the liquid crystal layer and the first conductive layer.
In a preferred embodiment, the phase modulation layer is disposed only between the first core arm and the second substrate layer.
In a preferred embodiment, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is 0.1 to 5 μm.
In a preferred embodiment, the material of the first core arm and the second core arm comprises silicon, a group II-V compound and an oxide thereof, and the material of the first substrate layer is silicon dioxide.
In a preferred embodiment, the first core arm and the second core arm are stripe-shaped or ridge-shaped. In a more preferred embodiment, the first core arm and the second core arm have a width of 200 to 1000 nanometers.
In an alternative embodiment, the first conductive layer and/or the second conductive layer may be divided into a plurality of regions along the extension direction of the first core arm and the second core arm, and the plurality of regions may be independently or commonly applied with a voltage.
In another aspect, the invention provides an optical attenuator, which includes a pair of Y-type waveguide splitters and an optical waveguide interference structure, wherein the Y-type waveguide splitters are respectively connected with two ends of a first core arm and a second core arm.
In another aspect, an optical waveguide switch is provided that includes a pair of optical couplers and an optical waveguide interference structure, the optical couplers being connected to respective ends of a first core arm and a second core arm.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an optical waveguide switching network including a plurality of optical couplers and a plurality of optical waveguide interference structures, the optical couplers being connected to one end of a first core arm and a second core arm of at least one optical waveguide interference structure, respectively, and the optical waveguide interference structures being connected in parallel and/or in series.
According to the optical waveguide interference structure provided by the invention, the electrically controlled liquid crystal device is used as an optical modulation technology, the optical waveguide phase modulation can be realized, the switching speed is high, the power consumption is low, the structure is simple, the size is small, and the preparation cost is low.
Drawings
The invention may be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view and unpowered operational schematic of an optical waveguide interference structure according to another embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the optical waveguide interference structure of FIG. 4 operating when energized;
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic top view of an optical waveguide interference structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an optical attenuator according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optical waveguide switch according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an optical waveguide switching network according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, however, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. The illustrated example embodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of example and that it is not intended to be limiting. Therefore, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.
Fig. 1 shows the overall structure of an optical waveguide interference structure 1 of the present disclosure, and fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the optical waveguide interference structure. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the optical waveguide interference structure includes a first core arm 10, a second core arm 20, a phase modulation layer 30, a first base material layer 40, and a second base material layer 50. The elongated first core arm 10 and the elongated second core arm 20 are symmetrically disposed on the first base material layer 40, and form a planar contact with the first base material layer 40, and at least one of the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 forms at least a planar contact with the phase modulation layer 30. The first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 have substantially the same optical path length in the optical waveguide interference structure, so that light passing through the two core arms has the same optical path length difference when not phase-modulated. Preferably, the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 are parallel to each other as shown in fig. 1. The second base material layer 50 is provided on the phase modulation layer 30.
The refractive index of the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 are the same and the material can be a commonly used waveguide material such as silicon, III-V compounds and oxides thereof. The shape of the core arm can be a strip (as shown in fig. 1), a ridge, or other shapes according to the requirements of the waveguide according to the different materials and application scenarios and requirements. Preferably, the width of the first core arm and the second core arm is 200-. The first substrate layer is made of a material having a refractive index smaller than the refractive index of the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20, such as silicon dioxide. The material of the second substrate layer can be glass, and can also be a hard or flexible polymer material, such as PET, PC and the like.
The refractive index of the phase modulation layer 30 is also smaller than that of the core arm, so that light entering the core arm can be totally reflected at the interface where the core arm contacts the phase modulation layer 30, propagating in the core arm in the form of a waveguide. Meanwhile, the optical performance of the phase modulation layer 30 can be changed to change the refractive index of the phase modulation layer, so that the phase of the light totally reflected on the interface is changed. Thus, the light propagating in the two core arms respectively generates a phase difference, and the light emergent from the two core arms respectively in the later period of application interferes with each other, so that the phase modulation and the light interference can be realized. The position and size of the phase modulation layer 30 can be set differently as needed, and as shown in fig. 2, the phase modulation layer 30 wraps the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 such that three sides of the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 are in contact with the phase modulation layer 30; the phase modulation layer 30 may also be disposed over the first and second core arms 10, 20 as shown in fig. 3, such that only one side of the first and second core arms 10, 20 is in contact with the phase modulation layer 30; or only between the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20; or otherwise provided that at least one of the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20 is guaranteed to be in contact with the phase modulation layer. The size of the phase modulation layer may be substantially the same as the size of the first substrate layer, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, or may be smaller than the size of the first substrate layer, such as contacting only one core arm.
As shown in fig. 3, the optical waveguide interference structure may further include a cladding layer 60 disposed between the first substrate layer 40 and the phase modulation layer 30 to surround a surface of the two core arms that is not in contact with the phase modulation layer 30 and the first substrate layer 40, so that light propagating in the core arms has higher propagation efficiency and light leakage is reduced. Cladding layer 60 is made of a material having a refractive index less than that of the core arm and may also be made of the material of the first substrate layer, such as silicon dioxide.
The phase modulation layer 30 may be a liquid crystal-based layer whose optical properties are adjusted by changes in the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer, thereby adjusting the refractive index of the liquid crystal and ultimately modulating the phase of light propagating in the core arm in contact therewith. Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the phase modulation layer 30 includes a liquid crystal layer 301, a first alignment layer 302, and a first conductive layer 303, wherein the first alignment layer 302 is disposed between the liquid crystal layer 301 and the second substrate layer 50, and the first conductive layer 303 is disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer 301 facing the first substrate layer 40. The first conductive layer 303 includes a first conductive electrode 311 and a second conductive electrode 312, and the first conductive electrode 311 and the second conductive electrode 312 are respectively disposed at both sides of the first core leg 10, spaced apart from the first core leg 10. Preferably, the first conductive electrode 311 and the second conductive electrode 312 are located on the same plane. The first alignment layer 302 is used to align the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 301, so that the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a predetermined pattern. In an alternative embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, a second alignment layer 304 is disposed between the liquid crystal layer 301 and the first conductive layer 303 (i.e., the first conductive electrode 311 and the second conductive electrode 312). The first alignment layer 302 and/or the second alignment layer 304 may be substantially planar alignment type or substantially vertical alignment type according to the difference of the pre-tilt angle (i.e., the included angle between the long axis direction of the liquid crystal molecules and the surface of the alignment layer when the liquid crystal molecules are orderly arranged on the surface of the alignment layer).
The optical properties of the liquid crystal layer 301 may be changed by applying a voltage between the first conductive electrode 311 and the second conductive electrode 312. For example, in fig. 4, in the case where no power is applied, liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 301 are substantially vertically aligned; when a voltage is applied between the first conductive electrode 311 and the second conductive electrode 312, as shown in fig. 5, the liquid crystal molecules near the first core arm 10 tend to align with the direction of the electric field (the direction parallel to the substrate surface), and the degree of change of the alignment direction varies with the voltage, so that the optical properties of the liquid crystal layer 301 are continuously and controllably changed, resulting in a change of the interface condition between the first core arm 10 and the liquid crystal layer 301, thereby changing the phase of the light propagating in the first core arm 10, and finally generating a phase difference between the light propagating in the first core arm 10 and the light propagating in the second core arm 20, wherein the phase difference can be arbitrarily modulated between 0 to 2 pi. Meanwhile, the conversion time of the optical performance of the liquid crystal layer can reach the sub-microsecond level, so that the phase modulation rate in later-stage application is greatly improved. The thickness of the liquid crystal layer 301 is generally 0.1 to 5 μm.
As shown in fig. 6, the liquid crystal layer 301 may be disposed only on the first core arm 10 without covering the second core arm 20, and likewise, the first alignment layer 302 and the second substrate layer 50 may be adjusted according to the size of the liquid crystal layer 301, thereby reducing the size of the device and saving materials.
As shown in fig. 7, the first conductive layer 303 may further include a third conductive electrode 313 and a fourth conductive electrode 314 disposed at both sides of the second core arm 20, which can respectively control the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules near the first core arm 10 and the second core arm 20, so as to perform phase adjustment on the light propagating in the first core arm 10 and the second lightwave core arm 20, respectively, and make the adjustment of the phase difference therebetween more flexible and flexible. Preferably, the third conductive electrode 313 and the fourth conductive electrode 314 are located on the same plane.
The phase modulation layer may further include a second conductive layer 305 disposed between the first alignment layer 302 and the second substrate layer 50, as shown in fig. 8, so that a voltage may be applied between the second conductive layer 305 and the first and second conductive electrodes 311 and 312, and the manner of applying the voltage may be varied, and the direction of the applied voltage may be varied (vertical + parallel), thereby further varying the adjustment of the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 301 and further increasing the response speed of the liquid crystal molecules. Similarly, the phase modulation layer may include all of the conductive electrodes, that is, the first conductive electrode 311, the second conductive electrode 312, the third conductive electrode 313, and the fourth conductive electrode 314 in the first conductive layer 303, and the conductive electrode in the second conductive layer 305, and a voltage may be applied between any of the conductive electrodes.
In an alternative embodiment, the first conductive layer 303 may be divided into a plurality of regions along the extension of the core arm, as shown in fig. 9, each region being independently or commonly applied with a voltage. Likewise, the second conductive layer 305 may also be divided into multiple regions along the extension of the core arm. In this way, the light propagating in the first core arm 10 and/or the second core arm can be phase-adjusted in sections, increasing its range of application.
Fig. 10 shows an optical attenuator including the above optical waveguide interference structure, which includes a pair of Y-shaped waveguide splitters 2 connected to both ends of the first core arm and the second core arm, respectively. Specifically, light emitted by the light source is split into two beams by the Y-type waveguide splitter 2, and the two beams are coupled into one beam by the Y-type waveguide splitter at the output end through the first core arm and the second core arm respectively. After the phase modulation of the optical waveguide interference structure, the light passing through the two core arms generates a phase difference
And the light intensity of the output light
By adjusting the phase difference, adjustment of the output light intensity from maximum to minimum can be realized.
Fig. 11 shows an optical waveguide switch including the above-described optical waveguide interference structure, including a pair of optical couplers 3 connected to both ends of the first core arm and the second core arm, respectively. The optical coupler may be a 3dB coupler, a Y-waveguide splitter, a multi-mode interference coupler (MMI) or a directional coupler. Specifically, the optical coupler at the input end distributes input light into two beams of light, the two beams of light respectively enter the first core arm and the second core arm, the two beams of light are modulated through the optical waveguide interference structure to generate corresponding phase difference, and then the two beams of light enter the optical coupler at the output end and are output after being coupled. Because the two beams of light have phase difference, interference effect can be generated between the two beams of light, and the on-off of the light can be realized by modulating the phase difference.
The invention also discloses an optical waveguide switch network, as shown in fig. 12, comprising a plurality of optical couplers and a plurality of optical waveguide interference structures, wherein the optical couplers are respectively connected with one end of the first core arm and one end of the second core arm of at least one optical waveguide interference structure, and the optical waveguide interference structures are connected in parallel and/or in series, so that more complicated optical path transmission can be realized. In a specific embodiment, there may be an optical waveguide interference structure having only one end connected to the optical coupler, or there may be an optical waveguide interference structure having both ends not connected to the optical coupler. The optical coupler and the optical waveguide interference structure in the optical waveguide switch network according to the embodiment of the invention can be set in a connection relationship according to actual needs. In fig. 12, each of the small rectangular blocks has a similar structure to the broken line portion in fig. 11.
Although several exemplary embodiments have been described above in detail, the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary and not limiting, and those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many other modifications, adaptations, and/or alternatives are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the present disclosure. Accordingly, all such modifications, adaptations, and/or alternatives are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the following claims.
Claims (17)
1. An optical waveguide interference structure comprises a first substrate layer, a first core arm, a second core arm, a phase modulation layer and a second substrate layer, wherein the first core arm and the second core arm are symmetrically arranged on the first substrate layer, at least one of the first core arm and the second core arm and the phase modulation layer form at least one-surface contact, the second substrate layer is arranged on the phase modulation layer, the refractive indexes of the first core arm and the second core arm are the same, the refractive index of the first substrate layer and the refractive index of the phase modulation layer are smaller than those of the first core arm and the second core arm, and the change of the optical performance of the phase modulation layer enables light propagating in the first core arm and/or the second core arm to generate phase change.
2. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 1 including a cladding layer disposed between the first substrate layer and the phase modulation layer, the cladding layer surrounding the first and second core arms, the cladding layer having a refractive index less than the refractive index of the first and second core arms.
3. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 1, wherein the phase modulation layer comprises a liquid crystal layer, a first alignment layer disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer facing the second substrate layer, and a first conductive layer disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer facing the first substrate layer, the first conductive layer comprising a first conductive electrode and a second conductive electrode disposed on either side of the first core arm.
4. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, wherein the optical properties of the liquid crystal layer are changed by applying a voltage between the first and second conductive electrodes.
5. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3 wherein the phase difference between light propagating in said first core arm and light propagating in said second core arm is arbitrarily modulated between 0 and 2 pi.
6. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3 wherein said first conductive layer further comprises a third conductive electrode and a fourth conductive electrode, said third conductive electrode and said fourth conductive electrode being disposed on opposite sides of said second core arm, respectively.
7. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, wherein the phase modulation layer further comprises a second conductive layer disposed between the first alignment layer and the second substrate layer.
8. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, said phase modulation layer further comprising a second alignment layer disposed between said liquid crystal layer and said first conductive layer.
9. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, the phase modulation layer being disposed only between the first core arm and the second substrate layer.
10. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, wherein the thickness of said liquid crystal layer is 0.1-5 μm.
11. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 1 or 2, the material of the first and second core arms comprising silicon, III-V compounds and oxides thereof, the material of the first substrate layer being silicon dioxide.
12. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 1 or 2, the first and second core arms being stripe or ridge shaped.
13. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 12, said first core arm and said second core arm having a width of 200-1000 nanometers.
14. The optical waveguide interference structure of claim 3, 6 or 7 wherein the first and/or second conductive layer is dividable into a plurality of regions along the extension of the first and second core arms, the plurality of regions being individually or collectively voltage-applicable.
15. An optical attenuator comprising a pair of Y-shaped waveguide splitters and the optical waveguide interference structure of any one of claims 1-14, the Y-shaped waveguide splitters being connected to both ends of the first core arm and the second core arm, respectively.
16. An optical waveguide switch comprising a pair of optical couplers and an optical waveguide interference structure according to any one of claims 1 to 14, the optical couplers being connected to both ends of the first core arm and the second core arm, respectively.
17. An optical waveguide switching network comprising a plurality of optical couplers and a plurality of optical waveguide interference structures according to any of claims 1 to 14, the optical couplers being connected to one end of a first core arm and a second core arm of at least one of the optical waveguide interference structures, respectively, wherein the optical waveguide interference structures are connected in parallel and/or in series.
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Citations (14)
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