Abstract

Integrated acousto-optic tunable filter (IAOTF) technology, with applications to narrowband wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems, has reached some maturity [1]. Recent progresses in IAOTFs include the realization of low drive power [2] and low sidelobe level [3-5] devices. However, all the IAOTFs reported heretofore have the surface acoustic wave (SAW) generating interdigital transducer (IDT) located at one end of the filter interaction length. This results in longer switching times as the SAW has to traverse the entire interaction length of the filter. In this paper, we present a new IAOTF configuration using bidirectional SAWs which reduces the filter switching time by a factor of two while retaining all the desirable characteristics of the conventional IAOTFs. Application of this filter configuration to high-speed self-heterodyne optical communication systems will also be reported.

© 1993 Optical Society of America