Influence of electrostatic fields on the properties of acoustically tuned optical filters

摘要

It is shown that an electrostatic field applied to the interaction medium of an acoustically tuned optical filter can shift the center wavelength of the optical passband, without significantly altering the optical bandwidth. For the crystallographic orientation of the LiNbO3medium selected for this experiment, we verify a 2hyphen;Aring; shift in optical passband for each kVthinsp;cmminus;1of applied electrostatic field. This effect can be used to overcome limitations in the tuning range and/or electrical efficiency imposed by transducers in the operation of acoustically tuned optical filters. This phenomenon can be particularly useful in optical filters of small dimensions such as those found in integrated optical waveguide structures.