Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

All-optical switching scheme using a three-level atomic system within photonic crystals

Hiroyuki Nihei, Atsushi Okamoto

Published Oct 30, 2001• 0 citations

Abstract

We propose all-optical switching schemes using a single three-level atomic system placed within a 3D photonic crystal that exhibits a complete 3D photonic band gap. The optical schemes we propose can be classified into two types with respect to a physical process that causes the switching effect. One switching type is mediated by changing an atom-field coupling strength. The other switching type is mediated by controlling quantum interference. Furthermore, we consider conditions of realizing a wide range of signals, which contributes to an improvement of the Signal to Noise ratio. The phases and strengths of the external laser fields required for the all-optical switching are revealed. Next, we estimate their switching times. Using these results, we propose the fastest scheme for every configuration of the atomic system, which is important for realizing a high-speed optical memory or switching device on an atomic scale that can be used in novel optical integrated systems, such as quantum computers.

DOI: 10.1117/12.447111

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