Electric-field-controlled optical beam splitter using the Kerr effect and the Nb/(Ta + Nb) composition ratio gradient

An electric-field-controlled optical beam splitter has been realized based on the quadratic electro-optic effect and gradients in the Nb/(Ta + Nb) ratio of potassium tantalate niobate (KTN) crystals. Experimentally, the splitter was produced using two KTN crystals and two half-wave plates. In the process of splitting, the incident beam could be split into four output beams by the splitter. The polarization properties of the splitter were discussed. The influence of the externally applied electric fields and half-wave plates was studied and results show that the direction and intensity of the output beams could be controlled by the electric field and half-wave plates.