Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Optical transistor of the nonlinear resonant structure
김종배
Abstract
An optical transistor capable of simultaneous amplification and switching is theoretically proposed via cascaded second-order nonlinear interactions in a resonant structure. Two distinct operational schemes are analyzed. A single-frequency scheme employs cascaded second harmonic generation and inverse second harmonic generation (SHG/iSHG) using two Type-I SHG interactions, whereas a dual-frequency scheme employs cascaded SHG and optical parametric amplification (SHG/OPA). Exact theoretical solutions and numerical calculations show cascadable amplification and digital on/off switching. A new, to our knowledge, optical phenomenon of nonlinear transparency is predicted by the theoretical solutions and confirmed by the numerical solutions in each scheme of the cascaded SHG/iSHG and SHG/OPA. The single- and dual-frequency configurations satisfy the cascadability and fan-out criteria with power transfer ratios of α TR =4.838 and 52.26 and power amplification factors of β AF =48.38 and 522.6, respectively. These results indicate transistor-like performance at input powers in the milliwatt range, which are readily supplied by laser diodes. The proposed structure provides a proof-of-principle theoretical route to optical transistors, which may serve as a basis for future all-optical communication and computing.