ALL-OPTICAL BEAM DEFLECTION AND SWITCHING IN STRONTIUM-BARIUM-NIOBATEWAVE-GUIDES

Self-focusing by thermal heating because of absorption of a guided lig ht beam in a planar strontium-barium-niobate waveguide is of interest for all-optical data processing. When a guided probe beam intersects t he pump brans under a small angle inside the waveguide, the self-focus ing effect in conjunction with self-bending because of the photorefrac tive effect can be used for targe angle deflection of the probe beam a nd for switching with time constants of fractions of milliseconds. Def lection angles of the outcoupled probe light up to 0.23 rad in air and frequencies up to 3 kHz for optical switching are reached in the expe riment. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.