Measurement of the electrostrictive constants of silica and their impact on poled silica devices

Alice C. Liu; Michel J. F. Digonnet; Gordon S. Kino

doi:10.1117/12.414106

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2 February 2001 Measurement of the electrostrictive constants of silica and their impact on poled silica devices

Alice C. Liu, Michel J. F. Digonnet, Gordon S. Kino

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Proceedings Volume 4216, Optical Devices for Fiber Communication II; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.414106
Event: Information Technologies 2000, 2000, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

In an electro-optic poled-silica switch, modulation arises from both the electro-optic effect and electrostriction. To investigate the magnitude of these two contributions, we measured the phase shift induced in a thin slab of unpoled silica subjected to a strong dc plus a small, low-frequency (0 - 19 MHz) ac voltage. The frequency responses for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the applied field exhibit a constant term due to electronic dc Kerr, and strong peaks due to electrostriction enhanced by mechanical resonances of the slab. A theoretical model is presented that gives good quantitative agreement with these observations. From this comparison we infer the values of the dc Kerr and electrostrictive constants of silica for each polarization. For the perpendicular polarization, electrostriction largely dominates in the frequency range under study. A potential electrostrictive modulator and the impact of electrostriction on the polarization dependence of poled-silica devices are discussed.

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Alice C. Liu, Michel J. F. Digonnet, and Gordon S. Kino "Measurement of the electrostrictive constants of silica and their impact on poled silica devices", Proc. SPIE 4216, Optical Devices for Fiber Communication II, (2 February 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.414106

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