Generation and modulation of Airy beam through quasi-phase-matched Pockels effect

Abstract

A new way to generate Airy beam through quasi-phase-matched (QPM) Pockels effect in a 2-dimensional (2D) quadratic nonlinear photonic crystal (QNPC) is presented. Taking advantage of binary modulation, one can fabricate such a 2D QNPC, in which the QPM condition for Pockels effect is satisfied along x-axis, while the cubic phase for Airy beam is imposed along y-axis. When a Gaussian beam propagates along x-axis of the 2D QNPC with an external electric field, the QPM Pockels effect takes place, resulting in an generated wave with Airy beam’ Fourier spectrum. When performing an optical Fourier transform (FT) on the output, we can obtain the desired Airy beam. Thanks to the QPM Pockels effect, the intensity of Airy beam can be modulated efficiently, which is applicable in optical communication. The generation and modulation of Airy beam can be achieved simultaneously in a single chip, which is advantageous for integration. It should be noted that, this method can also be employed for the other desired wave-front and provides full control of the intensity of the generated beam.