Polymeric polarization-independent modulator incorporating twisted optic-axis waveguide polarization converters

Abstract

A polarization-independent intensity modulator made of electrooptic polymer waveguides is proposed and its theoretical performance is discussed. The device includes twisted optic-axis waveguide polarization converters and phase modulators in the arms of Mach-Zehnder interferometer. For arbitrary input polarization states the extinction ratio of better than 30 dB is possible, and its half-wave voltage is 1.5 times that of the conventional Mach-Zehnder modulator.