Improving surface acousto-optical interaction by high aspect ratio electrodes

The acousto-optical interaction of an optical wave confined inside a waveguide and a surface acoustic wave launched by an interdigital transducer (IDT) at the surface of a piezoelectric material is considered. The IDT with high aspect ratio electrodes supports several acoustic modes that are strongly confined to the surface, causing a significant increase in the strain underneath the surface. A finite element method is employed to model the surface acoustic waves generated by a finite length IDT with 12 electrode pairs and subsequently to study their interaction with an optical wave propagating in a waveguide buried in the lithium niobate substrate supporting the electrodes. The interaction can be increased up to 600 times using these new types of surface acoustic waves as compared to using a conventional IDT with thin electrodes. This result could find applications in improved acousto-optical integrated modulators.