Advances in OptoElectronics 
Volume 2008 (2008), Article ID 587091, 6 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/587091
Research Article

Detection of an Optical Signal Using Difference Frequency Generation in a Periodically Poled LiTaO3 Microwave Waveguide

Hiroshi Murata and Yasuyuki Okamura

Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan

Received 9 June 2008; Accepted 25 August 2008

Recommended by Chang-qing Xu

Abstract

The detection of an optical signal modulated at 15 GHz was demonstrated experimentally by using difference frequency generation based on a second-order nonlinear optical effect in a periodically poled LiTaO3 microwave rectangular waveguide. The measured frequency dependence of the generated microwave signal was in good agreement with the theoretically expected result. An interesting application of the proposed device is the detection of high-speed optical clock detection.