Dl. Butler et al., THEORY OF AND EXPERIMENT WITH THE ELECTROOPTIC EFFECT IN INTERNAL-REFLECTION NEAR THE CRITICAL ANGLE, Journal of the Optical Society of America. B, Optical physics, 11(5), 1994, pp. 840-853
The electro-optic effect in intemal reflection near the critical angle
can directly modulate the reflectance of anoptical beam with microwav
e electrical signals. The measured change in reflectance is 1.3 x 10(-
6) V(rms)-1 cm for each applied microwave electric field, and modulati
on has been detected with input microwave signals as small as 10 mV(rm
s). We present the theoretical explanation of this interaction in two
complementary pictures, one picture based on nonlinear-optical theory
and one based on electro-optics. Our experiments with fundamental opti
cal and electrical properties match the predictions of both theories.
The most salient feature of the electro-optic effect in internal refle
ction is that the strength of the modulation peaks sharply at the crit
ical angle.