Full cycle, low loss, low distortion phase modulation from multilayered dielectric stacks with terahertz optical...

We present a customized multilayered dielectric stack employed as a broadband phase modulator with 6.3 THz optical bandwidth. The bandpass modulator provides up to a full-cycle of near-uniform phase modulation across a defined signal spectrum with maximized transmission and minimized pulse phase distortion. The modulator offers a compact, lightweight approach to active wavefront phase control for large optical apertures without the use of mechanical actuators. The modulator also provides for rapid signal switching. We contrast the narrowband transmission of a standard Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) with the broadband transmission of our optimized bandpass modulator. We explore techniques for implementing rapid phase modulation while maintaining high average signal transmission levels.