Optical dynamic transformation of segmented photorefractive waveguide structure

Summary form only given. By using the photorefractive effect, waveguide structures can be easily fabricated by optical irradiation, Recently we proposed the technique for fabricating segmented waveguides in photorefractive LiNbO/sub 3/ crystal. The segmented waveguide consists of a periodic array of many localized high refractive-index regions created by illumination of a focused laser beam. In this paper, we demonstrate a dynamic transform of a segmented waveguide structure by optical irradiation. A curved structure is transformed into a Y-branch one by adding high refractive-index regions. We also evaluate output power ratios between two arms in Y-branch waveguides when a period of segmentation in one arm is changed.