Chirality control by electric field in periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the chirality of MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate can be controlled using an external electric field via the electro-optic effect, enabling tunable polarization rotation in compact optical devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates electric field control of chirality in MgO:PPLN through the electro-optic effect, a novel approach for tunable optical activity in integrated photonics.

Findings

Optical propagation in MgO:PPLN is reciprocal under QPM conditions.

The specific rotation is proportional to the transverse electric field.

Chirality can be externally controlled by electric field.

Abstract

We study the chirality of periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) by electro-optic (EO) effect. It shows that optical propagation is reciprocal in MgO:PPLN when quasi-phase-matching (QPM) condition is satisfied, which is similar to natural optical active material like quartz. The specific rotation of MgO:PPLN by EO effect is shown to be proportional to the transverse electric field, making large polarization rotation in optical active material with small size possible. We also demonstrate that the chirality of MgO:PPLN can be controlled by external electric field.