Abstract

We present a comprehensive and systematic investigation of the fundamental physical limitations of Faraday isolation performance at high average powers that are due to thermally induced birefringence. First, the operation of various Faraday isolator designs by use of arbitrary orientation of cubic magneto-optic crystals is studied theoretically. It is shown that, for different Faraday isolator designs, different crystal orientations can optimize the isolation ratio. Second, thermo-optic and photoelastic constants for terbium gallium garnet crystals grown by different manufacturers were measured. Measurements of self-induced depolarization are made for various orientations of crystallographic axes. The measurements are in good agreement with our theoretical predictions. Based on our results, it is possible to select a crystal orientation that optimizes isolation performance at high average powers, resulting in a 5-dB enhancement over nonoptimized orientations.

© 2002 Optical Society of America

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Author Affiliations

Efim Khazanov, Nicolay Andreev, Oleg Palashov, Anatoly Poteomkin, Alexander Sergeev, Oliver Mehl, David H. Reitze

E. Khazanov (khazanov@appl.sci-nnov.ru), N. Andreev, O. Palashov, A. Poteomkin, and A. Sergeev are with the Institute of Applied Physics, 46 Uljanov Street, Nizhny Novgorod 603600, Russia. O. Mehl is with the Institute of Optics, Technical University Berlin, Secr. P1–1, Strasse des 17 Juni 135, D-10623 Berlin, Germany. D. H. Reitze is with the Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611–8440.

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