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AssigneeThomson-CSF
InventorsMichel Papuchon, Claude Puech
Estimating the term…
An electro-optical switch for switching optical radiation between two wave guides having a coupling zone with two pairs of electrodes (E.sub.11, E.sub.12, E.sub.21, E.sub.22) respectively associated with two guides (1, 2) and positioned so as to cover a variable fraction of the width of the guides. As a result, the electro-optical effects produced and, therefore, the propagation velocities in the two guides are made variable as a function of the electrical connection mode of the electrodes. Two switching states are obtained with a considerable tolerance for the length of the guides (2L) and the control voltage.
An electrically controlled electro-optical switch incorporating two wave guides formed in an electro-optical material and electrodes producing an electrical field for modulating the velocity of the optical radiation propagated by said guides into adjacent portions in order to effect an energy transfer as a function of a control voltage, wherein the intensity of the modulating electrical field created by the electrodes increases along said adjacent portions on moving away from the centres thereof, the electrical field orientations on either side of said centres being the same in one switching state and reversed in the other switching state.
An integrated optical circuit, wherein it comprises at least one switch according to one of the preceding claims.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.