40-GHz polymer electrooptic phase modulators

A broad-band high-frequency traveling wave electrooptic phase modulator made from stable nonlinear optical polymers has been tested. Using a 1.319-μm light source, single-mode operation was achieved with high-input optical power, resulting in improved modulation depths and signal-to-noise ratios. The high-frequency optical modulation was observed up to 40 GHz using external microwave mixers. Direct optical-heterodyne detection of electrooptic phase modulation has also been demonstrated with high sensitivity at 40 GHz. The devices were tested with 10
⁵
W/cm
²
power density for 21 hours, and have showed no observable decay in nonlinearity.