External optical modulator with domain inversion for providing constant chip versus frequency

1. A Mach-Zehnder optical modulator comprising:

a substrate of electro-optic material having a plurality of regions with alternating domain structure;

a Mach-Zehnder (MZ) optical waveguide interferometer formed in the substrate and having two optical waveguide arms, the waveguide arms having a length so as to include at least four regions of alternating domain structure;

an RF signal electrode including an RF input and an RF output, and having at least four sections, each section having a length substantially corresponding to the alternating domain structure regions of the substrate, the RF signal electrode positioned over sections of the two optical waveguides arms such that the signal electrode crosses from one optical waveguide arm to the other optical waveguide arm at a boundary of each alternating domain structure region;

the lengths of the at least four RF signal electrode sections are predetermined to approximate a constant chirp versus frequency over an optimized frequency band, such that:

the sections include a center section or center pair of sections disposed asymmetrically between an RF input and an RF output, and surrounded by one or more pairs of surrounding sections, the pairs of surrounding sections including an innermost surrounding pair of sections comprising two sections adjacent the center section or center pair of sections, and two sections adjacent the innermost pair of sections moving outwardly from the innermost to a final outermost pair at the RF input and RF output, the surrounding pairs having lengths that are equal to each other or unequal such that the section closer to the RF output is longer than the section closer to the RF input, the lengths of the surrounding pairs decreasing from the innermost surrounding pair to the outermost surrounding pair of sections.

2. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises lithium niobate, lithium tantalite or electro-optic polymer.

3. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 2 , wherein the substrate comprises z-cut lithium niobate.

4. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 3 , wherein the alternating domain structure comprises inverted domain sections an uninverted domain sections and a total length of the inverted domain sections is equal to a total length of the uninverted sections to provide zero chirp at low frequency.

5. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 4 , wherein the modulator functions at less than 5 Volts, preferably less than 4 Volts and most preferably at less than 3 Volts.

6. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 1 , wherein the MZ comprises an inner MZ in a dual parallel MZ modulator including a pair of matched inner MZs disposed in parallel arms of an outer MZ.

7. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 6 , wherein each inner MZ comprises a 4 section MZ.

8. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 7 , wherein the center sections or center pairs are disposed asymmetrically in the length of the inner MZ waveguide arms, and the pairs of surrounding sections have unequal lengths.

9. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 6 , wherein each inner MZ comprises a 5 section MZ.

10. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator defined in claim 1 , wherein the MZ includes part A of length L A and part B of length L B and an RF delay line between them, such that part B produces modulation opposite to part A at low frequency,

and the RF electrode includes at least 4 sections in part A, such that the sections include a center section or center pair of sections disposed asymmetrically between an RF input and the RF delay line, and surrounded by one or more pairs of surrounding sections, the pairs of surrounding sections including an innermost surrounding pair of sections comprising two sections adjacent the center section or center pair of sections, and two sections adjacent the innermost pair of sections moving outwardly from the innermost to a final outermost pair at the RF input and RF delay line, the surrounding pairs having lengths that are equal to each other or unequal such that the section closer to the RF delay line is longer than the section closer to the RF input, the lengths of the surrounding pairs decreasing from the innermost surrounding pair to the outermost surrounding pair of sections;

and the RF electrode includes at least 3 sections in part B such that the sections include a center section or center pair of sections disposed asymmetrically between the RF delay line and the RF output, and surrounded by one or more pairs of surrounding sections, the pairs of surrounding sections including an innermost surrounding pair of sections comprising two sections adjacent the center section or center pair of sections, and two sections adjacent the innermost pair of sections moving outwardly from the innermost to a final outermost pair at the RF delay line and the RF output, the surrounding pairs having lengths that are equal to each other or unequal such that the section closer to the RF output is longer than the section closer to the RF delay line, the lengths of the surrounding pairs decreasing from the innermost surrounding pair to the outermost surrounding pair of sections; and

the RF signal electrode in the domain reversed regions in part B is on the opposite waveguide relative to the domain reversed regions in part A.

11. The Mach-Zehnder optical modulator as defined in claim 10 , wherein the lengths of the sections of part A are selected to provide a nearly constant zero chirp versus frequency across an optimized frequency band, and the lengths of the sections of part B are selected to provide a constant zero chirp versus frequency across an optimized frequency band.