Abstracts from Poster Session

Abstract

A polarization controller has two function, i.e. polarization change and adjustment of the phase difference between the TE and TM components. Both functions can be realized using the electro-optic effect. This effect requires an electric field which to some extend overlaps the optical field. For the realization of an electric field in InGaAsP a pn-junction is realized by locally diffusion of Zn, resulting in p-type InP in intrinsic n-type InP. A reverse-biased electric field in the lateral direction results in a TE-TM conversion, whereas a transverse field yields a phase change for the TE component. Combining these two fields gives the possibility to create the desired polarization state from a given input polarization state. Since the phase difference between the TE and TM component changes as a function of the propagated distance, the polarity of the electric field is changed every time the relative phase changes by π (after propagation over length L_π), requiring a conversion section that is subdivided into subsections each having length L_π. Subdividing these subsections yields the possibility to tune the device.