Abstract

In integrated optics, most of the developmental efforts have centered on the use of LiNbO₃, and LiTaO₃, crystals primarily because of their ready commercial availability and well established techniques for fabricating optical waveguides. Significant interest however, lies in producing optical waveguide devices in materials with a higher electro-optic coefficient which could be used for making compact low-voltage electro-optic modulators and switches. A suitable choice for this is strontium-barium niobate crystal (such as SBN:75), The crystal exhibits a very large electrooptic coefficient, which is more than one order higher than that of LiNbO₃,. In this paper we discuss how to fabricate an electro-optic modulator in SBN using a permanent two-dimensional single-mode waveguide impressed into a crystalline lattice by a real-time photorefractive soliton.

© 2002 Optical Society of America