H.F. Taylor

Injection locking of coupled‐stripe diode laser arrays

The control of the far‐field beam pattern and the spectrum of 10‐element laser diode array by injection locking to a single‐mode master laser are described. With less than 3 mW of injected power an array output of 105 mW at a single frequency with a 0.5° wide far‐field lobe is obtained. Similar results are observed when the entire array is illuminated by the master laser beam, or when only one of the stripes is illuminated. The narrow lobe contains 60–70% of the total power and is centered at an angle of about 4° relative to the normal of the array facet.

Optical Kerr effect in fiber gyroscopes: effects of nonmonochromatic sources

The effects of source bandwidth on the optical Kerr effect are calculated. We show that the nonreciprocal Kerr bias error in fiber gyroscopes may be substantially reduced by using broadband sources.

Vapor diffused optical waveguides in strontium barium niobate (SBN: 60)

Single mode planar and channel waveguides have been produced in Sr0.6Ba0.4Nb2O6 (tungsten bronze structure) by sulfur diffusion in a sealed ampule, followed by oxidation in an open tube. Losses in channel waveguides were ∼15–20 dB/cm for TM polarization and ∼27–32 dB/cm for the TE polarization in z‐cut substrates. Electro‐optic modulation was observed after poling of the substrate. The experimentally determined value of the effective electro‐optic coefficient was slightly greater than reported earlier for bulk samples of SBN:60, and about 15 times greater than for LiNbO3. Based on measurements with the S35 radioisotope, the average atomic sulfur concentration was estimated to be about 4×1017/cm3 in the region extending from the surface to a depth of 2.5 μm, and a significant background concentration (∼5×1016/cm3) was present to depths in excess of 20 μm.

Integrated optics applications for ferroelectric materials

Abstract The field of integrated optics is concerned with the development of thin-film components for performing a variety of operations on guided light beams-modulation, switching, beam deflection, frequency shifting, directional coupling, frequency-selective coupling, power division, frequency mixing, etc. Most integrated optics research in recent years has employed lithium niobate as the substrate material. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in ferroelectric components for integrated optics, and discusses applications in communications, signal processing, and sensor systems. The need for substrate materials with improved electrooptic and acoustooptic properties and lower susceptibility to optical damage is also discussed.