The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 24, 1998
Filed:
May. 21, 1997
Dietrich Marcuse, Lincroft, NJ (US);
Herman Melvin Presby, Highland Park, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
An exemplary embodiment of an acousto-optic planar waveguide modulator includes a planar waveguide structure with an input section connected to a multimode section connected to an output section. The input and output sections have structures for propagating an optical signal in a first transmission mode. The multimode section has a structure in which an optical signal can propagate in the first transmission mode and a second transmission mode. A surface acoustic wave source is used to direct a surface acoustic wave at the multimode waveguide section to cause a periodic change in the refractive index for coupling optical signal energy between the even and odd transmission modes. As a consequence, power of an optical signal propagating in the even transmission mode is transferred to the odd transmission mode. This power transfer causes an attenuation of the optical signal propagating in the even transmission mode from the multimode section to the output section. Such attenuation can be varied in accordance with a second signal to modulate the optical signal by correspondingly varying the surface acoustic wave energy to produce a modulated optical signal. Further embodiments modulate optical signals propagating in single mode waveguides having their transmission modes evanescent field coupled to respective transmission modes of the planar multimode waveguides.