Traveling-wave light-intensity modulators using the method of polarization-rotated reflection

A reflection-type traveling-wave light-intensity modulator was constructed and tested over a 1-to-2-GHz bandwidth. The modulator is based on a novel technique named the method of polarization-rotated reflection. This method makes use of a modified optical reflection-type operation thereby canceling the temperature-dependent natural birefringence. Stable operation of the modulator was obtained without any temperature control. It is also shown that, if a microwave is reflected back as well as the light beam, the effective crystal length is doubled. This paper describes the principle of the proposed method, the modulator design, and the experimental results.