Integrated electrooptic laser deflector.

An integrated optical laser deflector employing the electrooptic effect is analyzed and shown to provide continuous angular deflection in one dimension. The angle of deflection is found to vary linearly with applied voltage. Because of the integrated optical configuration, significant deflection angles can be obtained for relatively low values of applied voltage. The presence of the deflector configuration within a thin-film cavity is shown to reduce the voltage required for a specific deflection. Waveguide mode coupling resulting from the induced refractive index variation is considered and found to be negligible for typical waveguide parameters.