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Tunable Interferometers Driven by Coherent Surface Acoustic Phonons

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Abstract

We demonstrate a compact tunable photonic modulator driven by surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in the low GHz frequency range. The device follows a well-known Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure with three output channels, built upon multi-mode interference (MMI) couplers. The light continuously switches paths between the central and the side channels, avoiding losses and granting a 180◦-dephasing synchronization between them. The modulator was monolithically fabricated on (Al,Ga)As, and can be used as a building block for more complex photonic functionalities. It can also be implemented in other material platforms such as Silicon or (In,Ga)P. Light modulated at multiples of the fundamental acoustic frequency can be accomplished by adjusting the applied acoustic power. An excellent agreement between theory and experiment is achieved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Institute, University of Valencia, P.O. Box 2208, ES46071, Valencia, Spain

    Antonio Crespo-Poveda, Andrés Cantarero & Maurício M. de Lima Jr.

  2. Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, DE10117, Berlin, Germany

    Alberto Hernández-Mínguez, Klaus Biermann, Abbes Tahraoui & Paulo V. Santos

  3. iTEAM Research Institute, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, ES46022, Valencia, Spain

    Bernardo Gargallo & Pascual Muñoz

Authors
  1. Antonio Crespo-Poveda
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  2. Alberto Hernández-Mínguez
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  3. Klaus Biermann
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  4. Abbes Tahraoui
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  5. Bernardo Gargallo
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  6. Pascual Muñoz
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  7. Paulo V. Santos
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  8. Andrés Cantarero
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  9. Maurício M. de Lima Jr.
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Crespo-Poveda, A., Hernández-Mínguez, A., Biermann, K. et al. Tunable Interferometers Driven by Coherent Surface Acoustic Phonons. MRS Advances 1, 1651–1656 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2016.234

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2016.234

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