Osamu MATOBA, Kouichi IKEZAWA, Kazuyoshi ITOH and Yoshiki ICHIOKA

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-1, Suita, 565 Japan

(Received May 8, 1995; Accepted September 20, 1995)

We investigate experimentally and numerically a novel method of modifying photorefractive waveguides in a lithium niobate crystal by a guided beam. The guided beam with a strong optical power can change the refractive index of the photorefractive waveguide because of the photorefractive effect. The modification of waveguide structure can be utilized for optical dynamic interconnection. Changes of optical characteristics of a probe beam caused by a modification beam are investigated. Experimental results show that the transmitted power or the peak intensity of the probe beam decreases exponentially as a function of total exposure energy of the modification beam. We also numerically analyze the refractive index change caused by the modification beam in the photorefractive waveguide. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental results.

Key words : optical interconnection, photorefractive, waveguide, optical neural network, beam propagation method