A thin ferroelectric interferometer (TFI) structure for light modulating devices is presented. It was fabricated entirely with thin film techniques on sapphire and silicon substrates. The ferroelectric layer in this structure was the lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate electrooptic materia, deposited from a chemical precursor solution onto an ITO-coated dielectric mirror stack. Light intensity modulation in both transmission and reflection modes, and phase modulation in the reflection mode were demonstrated. Experimental and simulation data show that TFI devices can be fast switching with a low driving voltage. Variations of the basic TFI structure can be used for phase tunable spatial light modulators and laser beam steering devices. Design principles, fabrication procedure and the preliminary performance of the devices are described.
Reflection-mode optical phase modulators based on the structure of thin ferroelectric interferometers (TFIs) have been demonstrated. The tunable TFIs in a Gires-Tournois configuration were fabricated entirely with thin film processing techniques, resulting in solid-state and high-speed phase modulators with low driving voltage. Phase tunable spatial light modulators (SLMs) and laser beam steering devices can be constructed with variations of the basic TFI structure. Recent experimental data on the SLMs and beam steering devices are presented. Design principles, fabrication procedure and the preliminary performance of the devices are described.
It is known that significant change of birefringence accompanies field- induced antiferroelectric-to ferroelectric phase transition in antiferroelectric thin films. When an antiferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film material was bounded by a semiconducting indium-tin oxide (ITO) layer, however, the phase transition was suppressed by an effect of the PZT-ITO interface. Radiation of near- ultraviolet light has shown to be effective in eliminating the interfacial suppression to the phase transition. This phenomenon has furnished a UV-activated birefringence in the PZT thin films for optical switching and storage.
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