Method for making devices having a pattern poled structure and pattern

Abstract

A poled dielectric structure, such as is useful as a frequency doubler, is fabricated by creating a uniform potential, such as a ground by means of an electrode surface, adjacent a first surface of a polable dielectric material, such as a piezo-electric or lithium niobate, and then applying an electric field adjacent a second surface of the polable dielectric material, where the electric field is spatially-modulated according to a three-dimensional modulation pattern with a field amplitude level at selected locations sufficient to cause atomic rearrangement within predefined regions in the polable material, and where the modulation amplitude level of the modulation pattern is controlled according to a modulation parameter. The control mechanism of modulation amplitude level may be protrusions of an electrically-conductive material extending toward the polable material or by modulated variations in the dielectric constant of a dielectric material separating the polable material from an electrode plate. The electrically-conductive material may be a plate, a deposited layer or a liquid. The pattern may be periodic and may be aligned to form patterned poled structures, including waveguides. A first electrode and a second electrode may be disposed opposed to one another across a wafer of polable material or they may be along edges of the polable material transverse to one another, with the electrode on the wafer surface having a crenulated edge directed toward the second electrode.