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

Photon switches based on nonlinear electric field redistribution

Yuri N. Perepelitsyn, Vladislav A. Aravin, Peter G. Kasherininov, Andrei V. Kichaev, Ilya D. Yaroshetskii

Published Apr 1, 1992• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The development of the techniques to control the light flux parameters directly by the light itself has permitted us to realize the new class of devices designed for completely optical signal processing. These new devices are both one-channel facilities for fiber links (light- control switches, modulators, and optical transistors) and multichannel ones (spatial-time light modulators -- STLM), which are the basic elements for the systems of optical data processing. All of these devices are based on light-control optical elements, in which one light flux or impulse directly controls parameters of another without doing an intermediate conversion into the electric signal and back again. In order to transfer some data from the control light flux to the fundamental one, a certain optical medium is required where the transmission properties depend on the control light. Scientific work on creation of the optical medium has already been carried out for more than 20 years. By now, sensitive media with specific switching energy of E equals 10-6 + 10-8 J/cm2 and switching rate of (nu) <EQ 102 cycles/s (the structure like MLS-liquid crystal) have been created. The devices for multichannel optical data processing -- that is, STLMs -- are implemented on the base of these sensitive media.

DOI
10.1117/12.58081

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The development of the techniques to control the light flux parameters directly by the light itself has permitted us to realize the new class of devices designed for completely optical signal processing. These new devices are both one-channel facilities for fiber links (light- control switches, modulators, and optical transistors) and multichannel ones (spatial-time light modulators -- STLM), which are the basic elements for the systems of optical data processing. All of these devices are based on light-control optical elements, in which one light flux or impulse directly controls parameters of another without doing an intermediate conversion into the electric signal and back again. In order to transfer some data from the control light flux to the fundamental one, a certain optical medium is required where the transmission properties depend on the control light. Scientific work on creation of the optical medium has already been carried out for more than 20 years. By now, sensitive media with specific switching energy of E equals 10-6 + 10-8 J/cm2 and switching rate of (nu) <EQ 102 cycles/s (the structure like MLS-liquid crystal) have been created. The devices for multichannel optical data processing -- that is, STLMs -- are implemented on the base of these sensitive media.
The transmission of information as optical signals encoded on light waves traveling through optical fibers and optical networks is increasingly moving to shorter and shorter distance scales. In the near future, optical networking is poised to supersede conventional transmission over electric wires and electronic networks for computer-to-computer communications, chip-to-chip communications, and even on-chip communications. The ever-increasing demand for faster and more reliable devices to process the optical signals offers new opportunities in developing all-optical signal processing systems (systems in which one optical signal controls another, thereby adding "intelligence" to the optical networks). All-optical switches, two-state and many-state all-optical memories, all-optical limiters, all-optical discriminators and all-optical transistors are only a few of the many devices proposed during the last two decades. The "all-optical" label is commonly used to distinguish the devices that do not involve dissipative electronic transport and require essentially no electrical communication of information. The all-optical transistor action was first observed in the context of optical bistability [1] and consists in a strong differential gain regime, in which, for small variations in the input intensity, the output intensity has a very strong variation. This analog operation is for all-optical input what transistor action is for electrical inputs.
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All-optical devices allow improvements in the speed of optical communication and computation systems by avoiding the conversion between the optical and electronic domains. The focus of this thesis is the experimental investigation of a new type of all-optical switch that is based on the control of optical patterns formed by nonlinear interactions between light and matter.\nThe all-optical switch consists of a pair of light beams that counterpropagate through warm rubidium vapor. These beams induce a nonlinear optical instability that gives rise to mirrorless parametric self-oscillation and generates light in the state of polarization that is orthogonal to that of the pump beams. In the far-field, the generated light forms patterns consisting of two or more spots. To characterize this instability, I observe experimentally the amount of generated power and the properties of the generated patterns as a function of pump beam intensity, frequency, and size. Near an atomic resonance, the instability has a very low threshold: with less than 1 mW of total pump power, >3 μW of power is generated.\nTo apply this system to all-optical switching, I observe that the orientation of the generated patterns can be controlled by introducing a symmetry-breaking perturbation to the system. A perturbation in the form of a weak switch beam injected into the nonlinear medium is suitable for controlling the orientation of the generated patterns. The device operates as a switch where each state of the pattern orientation corresponds to a state of the switch, and spatial filtering of the generated pattern defines the output ports of the device. Measurements of the switch response show that it can be actuated by as few as 600 ±40 photons. For a switch beam with 1/e field radius w0 = 185 ± 5μm, 600 ±40 photons correspond to an energy density of 5.4±0.7×10−4 photons/λ2/(2π) which is comparable to the best reported results from all-optical switches. The approach to all-optical switching I report here operates at very low light levels and exhibits cascadability and transistor-like response. Furthermore, the sensitivity is comparable to switches using cold-atom electromagnetically-induced transparency or cavity quantum-electrodynamics techniques, but is achieved with a simpler system, requiring only one optical frequency and occurring in warm atomic vapor.\nI develop a numerical model for the switch that exhibits patterns that rotate in the presence of a weak applied optical field. Results from this model, and from my experiment, show that the switch response time increases as the input power decreases. I propose that this increase is due to critical slowing down. Mapping the pattern orientation to a simple one-dimensional system shows that critical slowing down may account for the observed increase in response time at low input power. The ultimate performance of the device is likely limited by critical slowing down and I conclude that the minimum number of photons capable of actuating the switch is between 400 and 600 photons.\nMy approach to all-optical switching is simple, extremely sensitive and exhibits many of the properties necessary for use as an optical logic element. Additionally, this work has implications for a wide range of pattern forming systems, both in the field of optics and beyond, that may be applicable as novel devices for sensitive measurement and detection.
Applied Physics![Figure][1] CREDIT: [ISTOCKPHOTO.COM][2] The backbone of high-speed communications consists of optic fibers that carry information as pulses of light. Light-sensitive bistable optical resonators coupled to the fibers are capable of controlling the transmitted light, allowing access to the higher information transfer rates offered by all-optical switching. However, the relatively high amount of energy (or light intensity) required to switch an optical resonator between its two states (transmission ON, transmission OFF) can be a limiting factor with regard to power requirements. Sandhu et al. use numerical simulations to show that coherent control, or pulse shaping, of the switching light pulses can reduce the input energy requirements for switching the optical resonator. Moreover, because the peak energy input to the resonator is dependent on the phase of the input pulse, switching by phase modulation should be possible, thus offering the potential for even higher bit rates than attainable with intensity modulation–based protocols. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96 , 231108 (2010). [1]: pending:yes [2]: http://ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
To create ultrahigh-speed long-distance optical fiber communication systems of new generation particularly soliton transmission lines and to implement information optical processing systems into practice it is necessary to develop different functional devices having less than 10 ps high-speed characteristics[1]. The best variant is the application with this aim of light-controlled integrated optical switches and gates, as the pulses of less than 10 fs duration are obtained precisely by the optical methods. Promising from this point of view is the switch based on nonlinear coupled optical waveguides previously used experimentally in the integrated-optical variant on lithium niobate [2] and gallium arsenide [3] base as well as in quartz fiber light guides [4,5].