SURFACE-ACOUSTIC-WAVE FIELD AND ACOUSTO-OPTIC INTERACTION IN AlN/128-DEG-ROTATED Y-CUT X-PROPAGATION LiNbO3

Abstract

The efficiency of guided-wave acousto-optic (AO) interaction in AlN /128-deg-rotated Y-cut X-propagation lithium niobate (128-deg YX- LiNbO 3) structure is analyzed theoretically for the first time by determining the overlap integral between the optical and the surface acoustic wave (SAW) field distribution. The results show that the use of an AlN film can increase the phase velocity of SAW, the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the diffraction efficiency of AO interaction. A maximum of 9.33% for the electromechanical coupling coefficient is obtained when the normalized thickness of AlN film equals 0.09. The diffraction efficiency has a significant improvement when the normalized thickness of AlN film is increased from 0 to 0.05. And, the improvement for the TM polarization is more evident than that for the TE polarization. However, for a well-concentrated optical waveguide, the use of an AlN film reduces the diffraction efficiency of the TM polarization when the SAW frequency is low.