Simulation and Optimization of Surface Acoustic Wave Devises

In this paper a method to model the interaction of the mechanical field from a surface acoustic wave and the optical field in the waveguides of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is presented. The surface acoustic waves are generated by interdigital transducers using a plane strain model of a piezoelectric, inhomogeneous material and reflections from the boundaries are avoided by applying perfectly matched layers.

The optical modes in the waveguides are modeled by the time-harmonic wave equation for the magnetic field. The two models are coupled using the stress-optical relation and the change in effective refractive index introduced in the Mach-Zehnder interferometer arms by the stresses from the surface acoustic wave is calculated.

It is shown that the effective refractive index of the fundamental optical mode increases at a surface acoustic wave crest and decreases at a trough. The height of the waveguides is varied and it is shown that an optimal height can be found for which the difference between the effective refractive indices in the waveguides is maximized such that the optical modulation is improved.