Influences of absorption loss and synchronization on reflection quality of optical total-internal-reflection type switch/modulators with curved electrodes

The dynamic behavior of Total-Internal-Reflection (TIR) type optical switches/modulators in the form of single mode intersecting waveguide with curved electrodes is formulated. It is shown that their speed of operation is elastically influenced by the relative widths of the modulating and the input pulses, their synchronization and the absorption loss, in addition to the commonly known capacitance of the device. Almost distortion-free reflected pulses can be achieved if the intersection angle is chosen in regards to the propagation distances of the plane wave components of the guided mode in addition to the critical angle for total reflection. Achievement of low-loss devices is shown to be possible only if the absorption loss coefficient /spl alpha//sub p/ is sufficiently large.