Optical deflecting apparatus.

摘要

An optical deflecting apparatus (10) comprises a first generator (17) for generating a first surface acoustic wave (15) which advances to intersect an optical path (L1) of a guided optical wave advancing inside of an optical waveguide (12) and diffracts and deflects the guided optical wave, and a second generator (18) for generating a second surface acoustic wave (16) which advances to intersect the optical path (L2) of the guided and diffracted optical wave and diffracts and deflects the guided and diffracted optical wave in a direction that amplifies the deflection caused by the diffraction. The first and second surface acoustic wave generators (17, 18) are formed to continuously change the frequencies of the first and second surface acoustic waves (15, 16) and the directions of advance thereof while satisfying the conditions of ¦k1 + ¦K2 = ¦k2 and ¦k2 + ¦K2 = ¦k3 wherein ¦k1 and ¦k2 respectively denote wave vectors of the guided optical wave before and after being diffracted by the first surface acoustic wave (15), ¦k3 denotes the wave vector of the guided optical wave after being diffracted by the second surface acoustic wave (16), and ¦K1 and ¦K2 respectively denote wave vectors of the first and second surface acoustic waves (15, 16).