title: Duty cycle dependence of a periodically poled LiNbO3-based electro-optic Solc filter.
abstract: We demonstrate that the performance of a periodically poled LiNbO3- (PPLN-) based electro-optic Solc filter is dependent on the duty cycle of the crystal. This may limit the performance of the device for applications such as add-drop filtering and switching, owing to the deterioration of the extinction ratio. It is shown that by adding a retarder to the Solc filter it is possible to improve the extinction ratio; thus the dependence of the filter on the duty cycle can be reduced. Using Jones calculus, we analyzed the effect of a variable retarder that can also be rotated on the extinction ratio. We experimentally observed a 6 dB increase in the extinction ratio when we used a half-wavelength retarder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Electronics, School of Electrical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rabia
authors.forename: Ady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arie