Chapter 2

Physics of Optical Modulation

This chapter introduces the main physical effects that are used to generate photonic modulators. It discusses some of the effects that are more relevant or more applicable than others to be used in integrated photonic circuits. The magneto-optic (MO) effect, known also as the Faraday effect, is the creation of circular birefringence (CB) in a medium due to an applied magnetic fi eld. A material has CB when right circular polarization (RCP) and left circular polarization (LCP) experience different refractive indices. As shown by Faraday and many others later on, there exists a wide group of materials that exhibit a signifi cant MO effect. These are called magneto-optic materials. In order to get CB in MO ...

Get Integrated Nanophotonic Devices, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.