Integrated acousto-optic interaction at ultrahigh frequencies

With the development of nanoscale transducers, surface acoustic wave (SAW) with frequencies above 10 GHz can now be excited on the optical waveguides. However, the fundamental mode is very difficult to be excited for SAW at ultrahigh frequencies. Moreover, as the wavelength of SAW is reduced to below the optical wavelength, the acoustic field across the optical waveguide can no longer be approximated as uniform but is spatially periodic. Here, we develop a discussion about integrated acousto-optic (AO) interaction at ultrahigh frequencies. The electromechanical coupling coefficients of different modes are evaluated for SAW at ultrahigh frequencies. The acousto-optic overlap is analyzed to evaluate integrated AO interaction for each given acoustic wavelength and optical waveguide size. An analytic model is presented for integrated AO interaction at ultrahigh frequencies. The research shows that it would be a trade-off for the design of an integrated AO device with ultrahigh frequencies. •Ultrahigh-frequency surface acoustic wave more than 10 GHz is excited.•High-order acoustic mode with large electromechanical coupling coefficient is shown.•A model is presented for integrated acousto-optic interaction at ultrahigh-frequency.