Interdigitated electrode-induced phase grating with an electrically switchable and tunable period

A new design for an adjustable electro-optic phase grating inside a waveguide is proposed. The electric field and the refractive-index distribution induced inside a waveguide by voltage applied to double-sided periodic interdigitated electrode arrays are calculated rigorously on the basis of an original analytical technique. The modeling was carried out with the Mathcad software. It is shown that the fundamental periodicity of the induced grating inside the waveguide can be switched between l and 2l by application of the appropriate voltage, where l is the spatial periodicity of the interdigitated electrodes. One can also fine tune the peak grating reflectivity by changing the constant component of the induced refractive index with the help of the constant component of the electric field inside the waveguide. The suggested design can be used as a basic idea for a variety of optical communication networking applications, including switching, modulation, deflection, and data processing.