A consistent, analytic technique is used to describe the performance of various wave-guide deflectors, in which a spatially varying phase shift is created electro-optically across the optical beam. We use Fraunhofer diffraction theory to obtain the far field out-put intensity distributions of single prism elements, arrays of identical or phase-staggered prism elements and arrays of channel waveguide elements. The deflection of the optical beam is continuous or discontinuous, depending on the phase distribution across the beam which is determined by the geometry of the device. T.Te calculate the capacitance of the different interdigital electrode structures, with constant and linearly varying gap-widths; the values are in good agreement with experimental measurements. The performance capabilities of different deflectors are assessed in terms of number of resolvable spots, power, bandwidth and crosstalk. Simple phase distributions are shown to be useful for determining most deflector characteristics, including the power per unit bandwidth.

Date Published: 26 July 1979
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 0176, Guided Wave Optical Systems and Devices II, (26 July 1979); doi: 10.1117/12.957212

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0176:
Guided Wave Optical Systems and Devices II
Elsa M. Garmire, Editor(s)