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

Photonic crystal systems for high-speed optical memory device on an atomic scale

Hiroyuki Nihei, Atsushi Okamoto

Published May 8, 2001• 34 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this study, we examine the switching time of photonic memory devices, which we calculate for several switching schemes. Using the numerical results, we find that the switching scheme in which the switching is mediated by applying a small dc field to the device is the fastest one.
DOI
10.1117/12.427006

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We calculate the switching time of an optical memory device composed of three-dimensional photonic crystals with an impurity three-level atom, that is, a photonic memory device. We determine the switching time to be a function of the overshoot and the time constant of a decaying oscillation of the upper level population of the impurity atom. The analytical solutions for the overshoot and the time constant are given by using the Euler approach. Using these functions, we calculate the switching time for the Rabi frequency and the transition frequency of the impurity atom. Our results show that the switching time is improved by changing the transition frequency from inside the photonic band gap to outside it and/or by increasing the Rabi frequency, where the transition frequency and the Rabi frequency can be controlled by a small power field. We determine suitable ranges of these frequencies for realizing a high-speed photonic memory device, which are important for atomic-scale optical systems such as high-density integrated optical circuits and quantum computers.
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.
We review our recent progress on all-optical switching and bistability using ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal nanocavities. We also discuss all-optical logic gate operations. Because photonic crystal nanocavities can strongly confine photons in a small area for a long time, light can efficiently interact with dipoles. As a result, optical nonlinearities occur at a very low input. Optical nonlinearities are essential as regards all-optical switching and bistability, because they dynamically change such material properties as refractive index. We demonstrate all-optical switching at an operating energy of less than 100 fJ, and bistable operation at less than ~100 μW. In addition, these devices are small and so can operate at a reasonably high speed (~100 ps).
We demonstrate extremely low-power all-optical bistability by utilizing silicon photonic crystal nanocavities, based on the plasma effect of carriers generated by two-photon absorption. Owing to the high quality factor and the small volume of the nanocavities, the photon density inside the cavity becomes extremely high, which leads to a large reduction in operation power. Optical bistable operation in a single nanocavity permits optical read-write memory operation, which opens the possibility of an integrated optical logic circuit on a single chip, based on photonic crystals. The demonstrated bistable threshold power is 0.4 mW with a set pulse energy of 74 fJ, at a switching speed of <100 ps.