Abstract

Progress has been made on a guided-wave magneto-optical modulator that is needed for a proposed communication network. The proposed modulator will perturb the optical carrier to create both upshifted and downshifted components. The system, which is described elsewhere,¹ can employ a standing forward volume magnetostatic wave (FVMSW) to generate the microwave subcarriers needed to multiplex analog and/or digital signals. Separate experiments demonstrated the collinear and antico'ilinear interaction of FVMSW and guided light in an yttrium-iron-garnet thin film at frequencies in the C-band. The collinear and anticollinear interaction passbands had some frequency overlap, which indicates that k-vector matching for multiple diffractions is possible. Prisms were used to couple the light in and out of the planar waveguide. The theory of standing FVMSW-optical interaction will be presented for both collinear and transverse device configurations, using various rare- earth iron-garnet films. Phase-matching conditions, FVMSW attenuation, and harmonic generation will also be discussed.

© 1990 Optical Society of America