KVH Industries, Inc.
Integrated Optical Phase Modulator and Method of Making Same

Abstract:

A low propagation loss and loose fabrication tolerance waveguide for a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) device may be realized by using a weak optical confinement to the optical mode, through designing a waveguide of single or double thin strips with high aspect ratio as waveguide core. To introduce a modulation functionality on this type of PIC device, a thin-film electrooptic material may be incorporated to form a hybrid phase modulating device, where a material that can be processed easily may be used as a device layer and is bonded to, or deposited with, a thin electrooptic film that may otherwise be difficult to fabricate or process. A low insertion loss, compact size and high-efficiency phase modulator on PIC device with this type of weakly confined waveguide is disclosed.