Transverse Bragg-resonant enhancement of modulation and switching

We demonstrate theoretically that the electrooptic phase retardation, hence, modulation, can be enhanced very substantially in transverse Bragg resonance (TBR) waveguides. This enhancement is due fundamentally to the strong dependence of the dispersion of the TBR waveguide on the Bragg condition. Both theoretical and numerical analysis show that this enhancement can be used to improve the performance of directional coupler switches and electroabsorption modulators, leading potentially to major reductions in the device size or the switching voltage/current.