Waveguide optical scanner with increased deflection sensitivity for optical data storage

Waveguide electrooptic (EO) beam scanners are of interest for applications requiring high speed, high throughput, low power consumption, and modest deflection. Such devices can be used in high performance optical recording and laser printer heads. We are pursuing a novel waveguide device structure in which prisms are formed by ferroelectric domain inversion in a substrate containing a planar waveguide. The device uses TM optical modes in z-cut substrates and is therefore compatible with waveguides used for high-efficiency optical second harmonic generation (SHG).