Electro-optic ͑EO͒ polymer modulators with a wide range of thermal stability from −46°C to 95°C for fiber-optic gyroscope applications are reported. The synthesized EO side-chain polymer used has a glass transient temperature ͑T g ͒ of 200°C and a large EO coefficient of 25.2 pm/ V in a real device measurement. Mach-Zehnder ͑MZ͒ intensity and optical phase modulators are implemented based on this high-T g side-chain EO polymer, exhibiting ϳ3.75 V half-wave voltage with 1.5 cm interaction length and 2.3 cm total length at 1.55 m wavelength. The optical fiber-to-lens insertion loss is ϳ7.5 dB in the MZ interferometers and ϳ6 dB in the straight waveguides. We examine the long-term thermal stability of these devices and demonstrate their ability to meet the strict requirements of various EO device applications, particularly fiber-optic gyroscopes.
We demonstrate electro-optic frequency shifting of 1.55-microm optical pulses by as much as 86 GHz in a polymer traveling-wave phase modulator. The optical pulses were modulated with the linear region of quasi-sinusoidal microwave pulses. In the implemented configuration the electro-optic frequency shifter does not require synchronization with the source of the optical pulses, making it transparent to the optical-pulse repetition rate and increasing its utility. Electro-optic frequency conversion has a number of advantages compared with other methods of all-optical frequency conversion, including no need for a second optical source, high conversion efficiency, and simple control of the output frequency.
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