An Integrated Photonic Electric-Field Sensor Utilizing a 1 × 2 YBB Mach-Zehnder Interferometric Modulator with a Titanium-Diffused Lithium Niobate Waveguide and a Dipole Patch Antenna

Abstract

We studied photonic electric-field sensors using a 1 × 2 YBB-MZI modulator composed of two complementary outputs and a 3 dB directional coupler based on the electro-optic effect and titanium diffused lithium–niobate optical waveguides. The measured DC switching voltage and extinction ratio at the wavelength 1.3 μm were ~16.6 V and ~14.7 dB, respectively. The minimum detectable fields were ~1.12 V/m and ~3.3 V/m, corresponding to the ~22 dB and ~18 dB dynamic ranges of ~10 MHz and 50 MHz, respectively, for an rf power of 20 dBm. The sensor shows an almost linear response to the applied electric-field strength within the range of 0.29 V/m to 29.8 V/m.

Recent Progress in Lithium Niobate

“…Titanium-diffused lithium niobate waveguide devices are suitable for electric-field detection since their sensors will not perturb the field to be measured. Paper [6] studied photonic electric-field sensors using a 1 × 2 Y-fed balanced-bridge Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulator composed of two complementary outputs and a 3 dB directional coupler based on the electro-optic effect and titanium diffused lithium niobate optical waveguides.…”

Experimental investigation on the unbalanced Mach–Zehnder interferometer on lithium niobate thin film

“…Amplitude modulators based on the balanced MZI structure are ubiquitous and play a significant role in optical switching, processing, and communication [1][2][3][4]7,8,14] . Unbalanced MZIs (UMZIs), on the other hand, can be used to implement wavelength sensitive devices, such as comb filters or interleavers [22] , which have been demonstrated as the key component of sensors, filters, spectrometers in photonics, and neural and network applications [23,24] . UMZIs on LNTF are particularly suitable for such tunable devices, as thermo-optic and electro-optic effects can be easily incorporated into the devices.…”

Design and Analysis of Broadband LiNbO3 Optical Waveguide Electric Field Sensor with Tapered Antenna

“…To solve the aforementioned problem, in the 1980s, the integrated optical waveguide electric field sensor based on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) was proposed for the first time and extensively researched [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Subsequently, the researchers mainly focused on how to improve the bandwidth, sensitivity, and stability of the sensor [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”