4. Manufacturing and characterization technologies

4.1 Design

The production of a lithium niobate optical modulator with a more or less complex optical circuit and electrodes takes place in three main phases: design, integration, and encapsulation.

The design process consists of four stages. The first involves simulating the optical circuit. For a given application, the working wavelength and the modulation performance required for the application are taken into account. The technological process to be adopted is studied and determined. Until now, optical waveguides have been produced using titanium diffusion, which is the primary process. This process is characterized by very high stability at long wavelengths (> 1,300 nm) and by the fact that both TE and TM polarization states are supported by the waveguide....