| 摘要 |
PURPOSE:To narrow the angle of intersection to reduce the voltage impressed to a stripe layer by providing at least two optical waveguides on a substrate consisting of a compound semiconductor so that they intersect each other three-dimensionally and providing the stripe layer so that both optical waveguides are cut at the same angle in the intersection part by this stripe layer. CONSTITUTION:One optical waveguide 4 and the other optical waveguide 5 are formed in two, upper and lower stages on a substrate 1 and are allowed to intersect each other not on the same plane but three-dimensionally, and a stripe layer 6 is provided in this intersection part. For example, when light beams are made incident from an end face 4a of the lower optical waveguide 4, this light beams are propagated in the optical waveguide 4 and are normally emitted from the other end face 4b of the optical waveguide 4 through the stripe layer 6. If a carrier is injected to the stripe layer 6 by impressing a voltage to the stripe layer 6 by an electrode omitted in the figure, the refractive index of the stripe layer 6 is reduced. The propagated light beams are totally reflected on the stripe layer 6 in the intersection part between optical waveguides 4 and 6, and the course is switched from the optical waveguide 4 to the upper optical waveguide 5, and the light beams are propagated in the optical waveguide 5 and are emitted from its end face 5b. |
