Permanent magnet-based guided-wave magnetooptic Bragg cell modules

Compact magnetostatic forward volume wave-based guided-wave magnetooptic (MO) Bragg cell modules have been realized by utilizing a pair of small samarium-cobalt permanent magnets together with a pair of current-carrying coils. A highly uniform DC magnetic field, has been obtained in the air gap where yttrium iron garnet-gadolinium gallium garnet (YIG-GdGG) waveguide samples are inserted. A tunable DC magnetic field as large as 2446 Oe corresponding to a tunable carrier frequency band of 6.85 GHz has been achieved. The resulting MO Bragg cell modules, at the optical wavelength of 1.303 mu m, with carrier frequencies ranging from 2.0 to 12.0 GHz have provided performance characteristics comparable to those obtained by using a bulk electromagnet. Compact MO Bragg cell modules have potential applications, such as scanning, switching of light beams, and real-time processing of wide-band microwave signals without requiring frequency down-conversion.<
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