Electro-optic glass for light modulators

Abstract Electro-optic glass for light modulators Light modulators are important for processing of optical signals. Electro-optic modulators allow to control and influence the phase, frequency, amplitude, or polarization of the passing beam. Optical materials with a sufficiently high electro-optic coefficient are needed for construction of efficient and fast electro-optic modulators operating in the VIS and NIR regions. Heavy-metal oxide glasses based on the PbO-Bi2O3-Ga2O3 system represent a system with the highest non-linear optical susceptibility among oxide materials. Glass samples of PbO-Bi2O3-Ga2O3 system and those with addition of Ag2O and Sb2O3 were prepared by melt quenching. Thermal properties of the prepared materials were investigated using differential thermal analysis. Optical properties were studied using optical spectroscopy in the UV-VIS-IR region of the spectrum. The glasses are transparent from 550 nm up to 7.4 μm. The maximum of the refractive index determined by M-line spectroscopy was found at 473 nm and is equal to 2.49. The electro-optic coefficient was calculated from the rotation angle of polarized light passing through the sample to which a high voltage of 5 to 30 kV was applied. The obtained values of the electro-optic coefficient allow for using these glasses to construct efficient intensity or phase modulators using the electro-optic effect.