Magneto-optic and electro-optic modulators

An important aspect of the Faraday rotation diagnostic for tokamak plasma measurement has been the development of suitable polarization modulators for submillimeter wavelength. The problems are to obtain high optical transmission and fast modulation frequencies. In ORNL, the authors have developed both a magneto-optic and an electro-optic submillimeter-wave modulators. These devices have been operated at modulation frequency of approximately 100 kHz, and both have high transmission. The original magneto-optic modulator consists of a 3 mm thick by 1.4 cm diameter 2-111 ferrite disk mounted at the center of an air core coil. Recently, a new ferrite modulator has been tested, which allows a much higher modulation frequency than the original device. A laboratory set-up designed to simulate a plasma heterodyne interferometer/polarimeter experiment has been used to determine the modulator characteristics. A mechanical polarization rotor was used to simulate the rotation by plasma. The transmission of the ferrite disk was 80 % at a wavelength of 0.447 mm. The authors have also performed preliminary measurement on an electro-optic modulator first demonstrated by Fetterman at Lincoln Laboratory, U.S. This device is a classical electro-optic modulator using a cryogenically cooled (4.2 K) LiTaO3 crystal. Experiments are underway to determine the electro-optic properties of the crystal over the temperature range from 4.2 K to 77 K and over the range of wavelength from 0.118 mm to 0.447 mm. (Wakatsuki, Y.)