Full cycle, low loss, low distortion phase modulation from multilayered dielectric stacks with terahertz optical bandwidth

We present a customized multilayered dielectric stack employed as a broadba nd phase modulator with 6.3 THz optical bandwidth. The bandpass modulator p rovides up to a full-cycle of near-uniform phase modulation across a define d signal spectrum with maximized transmission and minimized pulse phase dis tortion. The modulator offers a compact, lightweight approach to active wav efront phase control for large optical apertures without the use of mechani cal actuators. The modulator also provides for rapid signal switching. We c ontrast the narrowband transmission of a standard Distributed Bragg Reflect or (DBR) with the broadband transmission of our optimized bandpass modulato r. We explore techniques for implementing rapid phase modulation while main taining high average signal transmission levels. (C) 2000 Optical Society o f America.