Patent ID: 7099524

Claim:
An optical modulator comprising: a substrate having an electro-optical effect; first and second optical waveguides formed on said substrate; a groove made between said first and second optical waveguides; a polarization inverting area formed in a portion of an area on said substrate, on which said first and second optical waveguides are formed, and made such that a characteristic of the electro-optical effect is inverted with respect to that of the other area on said substrate; a first electrode for developing an interaction between light propagating through said first and second optical waveguides and an electric signal applied thereto; and a second electrode for developing a reference electric potential with respect to said electric signal applied to said first electrode, said first electrode including an inverting area electrode portion formed above one of said first and second optical waveguides in said polarization inverting area, a non-inverting area electrode portion formed above the other one of said first and second optical waveguides in the other area, and a connection portion for making a connection between said inverting area electrode portion and said non-inverting area electrode portion at a boundary between said polarization inverting area and the other area, and a supporting mechanism for supporting said connection portion of said first electrode being provided in said groove.