Abstract

Considerable attention has been focused on integrated optical and/or guided wave devices utilizing electrooptic modulators and surface acoustic wave piezooptic transducers. Such devices have broad ranging applications in optical signal processing, local area network nodes, and optical communication technologies. Physical proximity of electrode pairs in parallel stripe or interdigital configurations often yields quite large electric field strengths, even for voltages of the order of 100 V or less. Such high electric field strengths may lead to long-term performance degradation by several possible mechanisms, including electric field enhanced metal ion indiffusion from the electrodes.

© 1986 Optical Society of America