Investigation of optical intensity modulator using electrically tunable reflection grating

Abstract

The possibility of utilizing the reflection grating as an optical intensity modulator is investigated. It is envisioned that the reflection grating is formed on an electro-optic (EO) waveguide. As a consequence, the grating period is assumed to be electrically tunable by the EO effect. The coupled-mode equations for the reflection grating are solved with the waveguide propagation loss taken into account. Changes in light reflection and transmission are presented as a function of effective index change for different coupling coefficients. The results show that the waveguide propagation loss can be detrimental in achieving a high-efficiency optical intensity modulator based on the reflection grating.