Multiplexing Guided Optical and Acoustic Waves for Efficient Acousto-Optic Devices

Acousto-optic devices utilize the overlap of acoustic and optical fields to facilitate photon-phonon interactions. For tightly confined optical and acoustic fields, such as the sub-wavelength scales achievable in integrated devices, this interaction is enhanced. Broadband operation which fully benefits from this enhancement requires light and sound to co-propagate in the same cross-section, a geometry currently lacking in the field. We introduce the `acoustic-optical multiplexer', which enables this co-linear geometry, and demonstrate through simulations a proof-of-concept design. Using suspended silicon and silica beams, the multiplexer combines two optical modes and an acoustic mode into a single, co-guided output port with low insertion loss and reflection for both optics and acoustics. The first design in its class, the multiplexer enables integrated acousto-optic devices to achieve efficient photon-phonon interactions.