Design of semiconductor electrooptic directional coupler with the beam propagation method

The design of a low-loss switching voltage double-heterostructure electrooptic coupler switch in III-V semiconductor materials is discussed. The optical propagation is analyzed by the effective index method combined with the beam propagation method. The electrostatic field and electron and hole distributions are analyzed by a numerical simulation. This model is in good agreement with experimental results obtained at 1.56 mu m on directional couplers made of GaAs-GaAlAs DH waveguides and Schottky barrier electrodes.>