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WO2003025626A2 - Milieu a base de chalcogenure et dispositifs optiques - Google Patents

Milieu a base de chalcogenure et dispositifs optiques Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003025626A2
WO2003025626A2 PCT/IL2002/000771 IL0200771W WO03025626A2 WO 2003025626 A2 WO2003025626 A2 WO 2003025626A2 IL 0200771 W IL0200771 W IL 0200771W WO 03025626 A2 WO03025626 A2 WO 03025626A2
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
waveguide
refractive index
lateral
switch
optical
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WO2003025626A3 (fr
Inventor
Alexander Pastor
Yuriy Tver'yanovich
Valery Borisov
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/35—Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/355—Non-linear optics characterised by the materials used
    • G02F1/3551—Crystals
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/35—Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/3515—All-optical modulation, gating, switching, e.g. control of a light beam by another light beam
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/29—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the position or the direction of light beams, i.e. deflection
    • G02F1/31—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching
    • G02F1/313—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching in an optical waveguide structure
    • G02F1/3137—Digital deflection, i.e. optical switching in an optical waveguide structure with intersecting or branching waveguides, e.g. X-switches and Y-junctions

Definitions

  • the present invention is related to all-optical switches. More particularly, the present invention is related to all-optical switches incorporated with chalcogenide-glass based medium.
  • optical switches Modern telecommunication involves point-to-point information transport using light pulses. Routing the information at various points along the network to the final destination is accomplished by optical switches.
  • optical switches There are a few optical switches that are available in the art: opto-mechanical switches, optic switches, electro-optical, thermo-optical switches and switches that are based on combinations of the mentioned technologies.
  • opto-mechanical switching moving mirrors perform the switching function by deflecting the beam to a different position.
  • An example of such an optical switch is disclosed in Canadian patent application no. 2,253,954 "Binary Optical Deflection Switch”. This patent discloses an optical deflection switch for steering an incident light beam selectively into one of a plurality of beam directions.
  • the optical switch comprises a plurality of transmissive light deflectors disposed to receive and deflect an incident light beam.
  • Optomechanical switching involves collimating the beam and transferring it through a lenses system that are complicated and are very expensive.
  • mechanical switches are of low reliability due to long switching times (longer than 1 ms). Press release by Lucent technologies Corporation on June 5, 2000 describes 256x256 channels Lambda router that uses microelectromechanical system having resolution time in the order of millisecond.
  • Another opto-mechanical switch is produced by JDS FITEL Corporation. This switch is a beambox of Tm 8x8 with commutation time less than 2 ms.
  • Optic-based optical switches act generally as an interferometer or optical equipment that utilizes changes refractive index in order to vary the transmittance of incident light beam.
  • An example is disclosed in Canadian patent application no. 1 ,204,532 "Nonlinear All-Optical Time Division Multiplexer and Demultiplexer".
  • This device is formed from a cascaded plurality of triggerable optical switching elements.
  • An exemplary triggerable switching element comprises a nonlinear optical material disposed in a ring resonator arrangement. The nonlinear optical material exhibits an index of refraction, which is a function of the intensity of the light passing therethrough.
  • the interferometric enhancement of nonlinear interaction of light beams inside the resonator points out the disadvantage of this switching system - high sensitivity of the method to mechanical and thermal noises and to fluctuations in the driving laser pulse's intensity.
  • These switches may be also in the type of optical cavity-type filters in which the size of the cavity between two reflective surfaces causes phase differences between the input and the reflected wave fronts. This phase deviation can be used to synthesize tunable constructive and destructive interference, thus creating a band pass filter.
  • An example is disclosed in Canadian patent application no. 2,276,489 "Stable Nonlinear Mach-Zehnder Fiber Switch" in which an all-optical fiber switch is implemented within a short Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration.
  • the main disadvantage of the Optic-based optical switches is in low nonlinear coefficient that requires a strong driving optical power such as a high power laser, long interaction length and necessity to use complicated and noise sensitive interferometric switches.
  • optical switching devices are far from practical application in optical communication networks since the driving optical power needed for switching is very high (in an order of a few kW or even higher - up to GW).
  • low optical non-linearity that characterizes most of the used materials leads to a long interaction length; hence the dimensions of those all-optical switches are too large for practical applications; more than 10 cm.
  • a glass that contains high concentration of Bi 2 0 3 was introduced. Sugimoto et al.
  • Electro-optical switches changes the refraction index by applying a DC electrical pulse to an electro-optical active sample leading to deflecting of light beam transmitted through the sample.
  • An example is disclosed in US patent no. 5,319,492 "Optical Switch” that discloses an optical switch that has a substrate and a transparent material in which a three-dimensional diffraction pattern is recorded which is capable of diffracting light. The material has nonlinear optical properties and extends in the form of a first layer above the substrate. At least two electrodes are provided for varying the diffraction pattern in accordance with applied voltage.
  • Such a device has relatively long switching time (between 2 to 20 ms), and moreover, since the material is polymeric, it is sensitive to temperature variations and non-resistant to aggressive chemical environment.
  • An additional disadvantage of the electro- optical switches is that all field-driven optical switches are very sensitive to electromagnetic noises.
  • the forth switch type is a thermo-optical switch that is based on a change in the refractive index of the transmitting medium due to temperature changes.
  • An example of such a thermo-optical switch is disclosed in US patent no. 6,144,780 "Polymer Waveguide Switch and Method".
  • This optical switch has a straight waveguide core with a lateral waveguide core extending therefrom.
  • a region of polymer materials is disposed in the straight waveguide core to deflect optical waves from the first waveguide core into the lateral waveguide core depending on the relative indexes of refraction between the first waveguide core and the polymer material.
  • the temperature of the polymer material is adjusted, thereby adjusting the index of refraction of the polymer material so as to cause the deflection in a switched state, and to allow light radiation to pass through the polymer material in an un-switches state.
  • the switching time is relatively long (longer than 1 ms) and the device is highly temperature dependent.
  • Non-linear optical mediums Monocrystals, systems with reduced dimensional structure (stratified structures and quantum dots), organic materials, oxide glasses with heavy metal and semiconductor glasses. Many of the mentioned mediums were tested and found not suitable for use as optical medium in optical devices. The formation of large samples of monocrystals, for example, is complicated. Systems with reduced dimensional structure, on the other hand, have extremely high non-linearity but very slow response time. The semiconductor glasses are characterized by fast response time and high transparency in the IR region, however their nonlinear coefficient is not high enough for many of the applications. Some of the oxide glasses are not stable and has limited IR transparency. Some of the materials may be formed only as thin films (carbide and nitrites with semiconductor nanocrystals). The polymeric materials are characterized by low index of refraction and significant absorption bands.
  • Nonlinear material for active and passive elements of optical networks are glasses.
  • This group of glasses contains heavy metal oxide glasses and chalcogenide glasses.
  • the nonlinearity of those glasses was characterized, for example by Smolorz et al., "Studies of Non-Linearities of Chalcogenide and Heavy-Metal Oxide Glasses", Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 256-257 (1-3) (1999) 310-317.
  • the chalcogenide glasses are of high transparency in IR spectral region, high magnitude of refracting index and high non-linear susceptibility.
  • the reason for the improved properties of chalcogenide glass over the others is the high polarizability of the chalcogene atom in comparison with the oxygen atom and the relatively high degree of covalence in the chalcogenide glass.
  • the high degree of covalence leads according to Moss's rule to increase in the refractive index since the increase in the degree of covalence is accompanied by lowering the energy gap.
  • the inventors of the present invention found that when the energy gap is lowered to 1 eV by increasing the degree of covalece, the refractive index of the calcogenide glass is increased in about a unit (meaning that the derivative ⁇ n/ ⁇ E substantially equals 1/1 eV).
  • the above-described papers and other academic work that was performed on chalcogenide glasses utilized model compositions, As 2 Se 3 , As 2 S 3 and similar compositions.
  • the third order non-linearity coefficient is 70-400 times greater than in silica glass (depending on the chemical composition).
  • Analogous results were obtained for other compositions: Ge-As-Ch, Ga-La-S, and Ga-Ge-S.
  • the non-linear refraction coefficient n 2 varies in order of magnitude depending on the chemical composition of the glass.
  • the time characterization of reversible optical properties is lower than 0.1 picosecond.
  • photosrtuctural transformations that indicate stationary and long lived changes on the optical and mechanical properties of the chalcogenide glass under light irradiation were found.
  • Chalcogenide glasses were used as optical media, but not necessarily as optical switches.
  • One of the examples is disclosed in US patent no. 5,798,853 "Optical Communication System Compensating for Chromatic Dispersion and Phase Conjugate Light Generator for Use therewith” by Watanabe.
  • Chalcogenide glass is applied as a nonlinear optical media, but the purpose of this patent is compensating the chromatic dispersion occurring by the optical pulse travel through a waveguide.
  • JP6,202,180A2 “Nonlinear Optical Device” by Yube et al., a nonlinear optical switch that uses the nonlinear effect of phase modulation by applying an intense driving optical field and illuminates chalcogenide waveguide, is disclosed.
  • This non-linear optical switching device is complicated, has high magnitude of optical losses, needs a high level of driving optical power and has limited configuration.
  • the optical medium used in optical devices such as optical switches or waveguides is prone to a certain disadvantage such as low non-linearity coefficient or low response time.
  • There is a need to establish an optical medium that has optimal characterization such as fast response time, transparency in the IR region and high non-linearity coefficient.
  • the new all-optical switch is based on a new composition of chalcogenide-based medium.
  • the addition of heavy metal atoms increases the refractive index of the chalcogenide glass.
  • An all-optical nonlinear switch adapted to switch the direction of an incoming pulse, comprising: a straight waveguide; at least one lateral waveguide extending from said straight waveguide, said at least one lateral waveguide is made of a chalcogenide-based medium having a changeable refractive index, said chalcogenide-based medium comprises heavy metal atoms; a driving source adapted to induce a change in the refractive index of said chalcogenide-based medium; wherein said all optical switch has a first state in which said driving source is quenched and the refractive index of said straight waveguide is higher than the refractive index of said at least one lateral waveguide, and wherein said all optical switch has a second state, in which said driving source induces a change in the refractive index of said lateral
  • said chalcogenide-based medium is represented by the following general chemical formula (1-x) • MC a - x ⁇ b C, wherein x is from 0 to 1 , a is from 1.3 to 3.2 and b is from 0.9 to 2.2, and wherein M is one or some metals selected from a group consisting of Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, La, As, and Sb, and wherein C is one or some elements selected from a group consisting of S, Se, Te, F, Cl , Br, and I, and wherein ⁇ is a heavy metal atom, said chalcogenide-based medium exhibits particularly high third order non-linearity.
  • ⁇ is one or two metals selected from a group consisting of Cd, Hg, TI, Pb, Bi, Rb and Cs.
  • said straight waveguide is made of a chalcogenide glass.
  • said chalcogenide glass has a refractive index of about 2.5.
  • said chalcogenide-based medium has a refractive index that is changed between about 2.45 when said driving source is quenched and about 2.5 when said driving source is induced.
  • said straight waveguide and said at least one lateral waveguide are planar and reside substantially on the same plane.
  • a plurality of lateral waveguides is arranged in parallel so that an incoming pulse can outcome from said plurality of lateral waveguides. Furthermore, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of lateral waveguides is arranged in series wherein the incoming pulse can outcome from at least one from said plurality of lateral waveguides. Furthermore, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, an isolating layer is provided between each one from the plurality of lateral waveguide and a consequent lateral waveguide in order to prevent cross-talk.
  • each one from the plurality of lateral waveguide comprises two parallel branches, wherein one of said two parallel branches is made of a chalcogenide glass.
  • the branch of said at least one lateral waveguide that is made of chalcogenide glass is provided with a reflected Bragg grating.
  • the lateral waveguides are combined from at least two lateral waveguides arranged in a series and at least two waveguides arranged in parallel.
  • said driving source is an illumination source.
  • said illumination source is provided with a frequency so as to enable said illumination source to penetrate said straight waveguide and said at least one lateral waveguide.
  • said driving source is an intense laser light.
  • said intense laser light is induced in a pulse manner.
  • an optical material exhibiting particularly high third order non-linearity represented by the following general chemical formula (1-x) ⁇ MC a - x ⁇ b C, wherein x is from 0 to 1 , a is from 1.3 to 3.2 and b is from 0.9 to 2.2, and wherein M is at least one metal selected from a group consisting of Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, La, As, and Sb, and wherein C is at least one element selected from a group consisting of S, Se, Te, F, Cl , Br, and I, and wherein ⁇ is a heavy metal atom.
  • (1-x) ⁇ MC a - x ⁇ b C wherein x is from 0 to 1 , a is from 1.3 to 3.2 and b is from 0.9 to 2.2, and wherein M is at least one metal selected from a group consisting of Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, La, As, and Sb, and wherein C is at least one element selected from
  • ⁇ is selected from a group consisting of Cd, Hg, TI, Pb, Bi, Rb and Cs.
  • said optical material has a changeable refractive index that is changed as a result of a driving source.
  • said optical material has a refractive index of about 2.45.
  • a driving source can induce a change in refractive index of said optical material so as to establish a refractive index of about 2.5.
  • M is a combination of at least two elements selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, La, As, and Sb. Furthermore, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in M is a combination of Si and Ge. Additionally, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said M is As and said ⁇ is Sb.
  • Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of a single 1x2 all-optical nonlinear switch in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 2 illustrates a schematic view of 1 ⁇ N series arrangement of all- optical nonlinear switches in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 3 illustrates schematic top view (a) and side view (b) of 1 ⁇ N parallel arrangement of all-optical nonlinear switches in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • the wavelength-division multiplexing WDM and the dense wavelength-division multiplexing DWDM- based networks need a faster response, high polarization and wavelength- independent all-optical switches that are insensitive to electrical noises and temperature variations.
  • the present invention provides a new schema for all-optical nonlinear switch that uses the effect of interrupted full internal reflection by light-induced change of refractive index in a new nonlinear medium based on a new chalcogenide glass composition doped with components having high polarizability.
  • Chalcogenide glass is used as a non-linear material while the new chalcogenide glass to be used in the embodiments of the present invention comprises heavier and bigger atoms than the atoms that are used in oxide glasses or in known chalcogenide glasses, for example.
  • the heavier and bigger atoms impart the chalcogenide glass higher refractive indexes and high magnitude of optical non-linearity.
  • the new composition of chalcogenide glass is characterized by the chemical formula (1-x) • MC a - x ⁇ bC, where: M - Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, La, As, Sb in different proportions; C - S, Se, Te, F, Cl, Br, I in different proportions; ⁇ - Cd, Hg, TI, Pb, Bi, Cs, Rb in different proportions; a - between 1.3 and 3.2; b - between 0.9 and 2.2; x - between 0 and 1.
  • the components listed as ⁇ are heavy metals that provide high polarization to the chalcogenide glass. These heavy metal components are added to a mixture of the other components in appropriate proportions.
  • the mixture is melted in a quartz cell in bath using a known production method.
  • heavy metal atoms are characterized by high polarizability. Therefore, the increase in the concentration of heavy metal atoms will lead to an increase in the refractive index and the non-linearity.
  • the chalcogenide compounds having incorporated heavy metals have high degree ⁇ : of covalence. This also contributes to the increase in the refractive index of the new chalcogenide glass, as indicated herein above.
  • the addition of 10 atomic% of TI one of the metals indicated in the above formula as a ⁇ element
  • Table 1 shows that as the energy gap is lower, the refractive index n is higher. If Eg is the same for two components, the refractive index is higher for the composition in which the content of heavy metal (TI for example) or heavy chalcogen (Se) is higher. Addition of heavy metal elements into the composition of the chalcogenide glass results in a rise in the refractive index.
  • the inventors of the present invention found the values of 3.3 for compositions of chalcogenide glass having heavy metal elements incorporated.
  • Galium sulfide glasses are disclosed in US patent no. 5,392,376 "Galium Sulfide Glasses" by Aitken et al., filed in 1994.
  • the disclosed invention is directed to transparent glasses exhibiting excellent transmission far into the infrared region of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum.
  • Galium sulfide glasses as well as Germanium sulfide or arsenic sulfide are known to be glass-forming elements.
  • the two first examples are characterized by high melting point. This fact facilitates the addition of heavy metals in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention into the glass without loosing its glass forming ability.
  • the elements Si, Al, In, Sb or Bi since these elements have also high melting point and they act as good solvents that prevent crystallization by cooling, hence increase the glass-forming ability.
  • Sulfur is chosen to be the preferable chalcogenide element in the embodiment of the present invention since chalcogenide glasses that contain sulfide are characterize by maximal shift of absorption band in shorter wavelength. Additional elements that may replace the sulfide are Se, Te, F, Cl, Br and I, however, Se and Te are preferable since they are elements of higher polarizability.
  • the high polarizability of Se and Te leads to increase in the refractive index and the non-linearity of the glass.
  • the glasses used in the present invention are based on additional elements that are not used and probably can not be used in Aitken's glasses, such as Si, I, Br, Cs, Rb and Bi. Some of the elements used in Atilen's glasses are not efficient enough in their glass-forming ability so that heavy metal atoms may not be incorporated with them in order to produce an improved glass.
  • the non- efficient elements that are used in Aitken's invention are Cu that lowers the glass forming ability of melted mixtures that contain S atom.
  • Rare-earth metals that are used also in Aitken's invention, Ba, Ca and Sr also lower the glass forming ability as well as lower the non-linearity property of the glass since they are not of high polarizability.
  • the element Sn which is one of the R elements in Aitken's invention, is not used in the present invention since the usual valence state of Sn in chalcogenide glasses is 2; and hence lowers the glass-forming ability.
  • Si increases the glass forming ability when used in combination with an analogous Ge atom. In the same manner, Bi in combination with Sb and As increases also the glass forming ability.
  • the light alkali metals of Aitken's (Li, Na and K) are replaced by heavy alkali metals such as Cs and Rb due to the high polarizability of the heavy metals that increase the non-linear coefficient of the resulting glass.
  • the chalcogenide glass of the present invention may be incorporated as a nonlinear medium in all-optical non-linear switch.
  • This new all-optical nonlinear switch is simple and reliable and is characterized by a very fast response time, about one microsecond and lower.
  • the new all-optical nonlinear switch is not sensitive to electrical, thermal and mechanical noises and requires relatively low optical driving power.
  • the new switch does not need any external driving mechanism, whether electric, magnetic, thermal or mechanical, in order to process the optical signal switching.
  • the new switch may be constructed in relatively small dimensions and be imparted in re-configurable optical networking.
  • Optical switch 10 comprises a first planar straight waveguide 12 and a second planar lateral waveguide 14. Both straight and lateral waveguides 12 and 14, are in optical contact through a common portion 16. A boundary 22 is defined between straight waveguide 12 and lateral waveguide 14. In a non-switching state (when there is no driving light pulse), the refraction coefficient of straight waveguide 12 is greater than the refractive coefficient of lateral waveguide 14 so that the conditions for full internal reflectance in common portion 16 are fulfilled.
  • Typical and exemplary values of the refractive index of the waveguides to be used in the embodiment of the present invention are as follows: 2.5 for straight waveguide 12 and 2.45 for lateral waveguide 14.
  • Lateral waveguide 14 is made from chalcogenide glass in a preferred composition as indicated herein before.
  • the chalcogenide glass provided with high polarization additives of the present invention exhibits high third order nonlinear coefficient.
  • Straight waveguide 12 is made from a usual chalcogenide glass that is transparent in the near-IR and has a small non-linearity coefficient.
  • a driving pulse 18 is transmitted in the same frequency as the eigenfrequency of lateral waveguide 14.
  • Driving pulse 18 may be preferably an intense laser light that penetrates waveguides 12 and 14 through their boundaries.
  • Driving pulse 18 changes the refractive coefficient of the chalcogenide glass so that the refractive characteristics of lateral waveguide 14 are changed and the condition of full internal reflection on boundary 22 between the waveguides is changed.
  • an incoming pulse 20 which is transmitted through straight waveguide 12, penetrates boundary 22 between both waveguides 12 and 14.
  • the refractive index of the chalcogenide glass from which straight waveguide 12 is made of is changes insignificantly by the illumination conditions.
  • the driving pulse may be any energy form that causes a change in the refractive index.
  • the photo-structural transition and any other means to induce a change in refractive index are covered by the scope of the present invention.
  • 1 N nonlinear switch 50 comprises a straight waveguide 52 from which a plurality of lateral waveguides extends. Each one of lateral waveguides is made of two parallel branches, a first waveguide branch 54 that is made of a usual chalcogenide glass and a second waveguide branch 55 that is made from the chalcogenide glass of the present invention having high third order non-linearity.
  • the plurality of lateral waveguides is arranged in a series of channels separated by an isolating layer 64.
  • First waveguide branch 54 that is made of a usual chalcogenide glass is used in order to transport a driving pulse 56 that is preferably an intense laser illumination, to a boundary between straight waveguide 52 and the lateral waveguides. Near the boundary between straight waveguide 52 and the lateral waveguides, first waveguide branch 54 is provided with a reflected Bragg grating 68 that is designated to deflect driving pulse 56 and to illuminate the boundary 70 between second waveguide branch 55 and straight waveguide 52. Reflected Bragg grating 68 acts as a mirror that reflects the driving pulse.
  • Second waveguide branch 55 is made from the chalcogenide glass of the present invention so that as in the former embodiment described herein before, when driving pulse 56 is not applied to the second branch of lateral waveguides, an incoming pulse 60 that is directed towards common portion 58 does not penetrate second waveguides branch 55 due to full internal reflection in straight waveguide 52. However, when driving pulse 56 is changed, hence applied the refractive index of the chalcogenide glass from which second waveguide 54 are made from, incoming pulse 60 may penetrate boundary 70 between straight waveguide 52 and second waveguide branch 55. As a result, incoming pulse 60 diverts to produce an outgoing pulse 62 transported by second waveguide branch 55. As indicated herein, isolating layer 62 is provided between each one of the pluralities of lateral waveguides.
  • This feature provides the ability to illuminate by driving pulse 56 only one or specific few from the plurality of waveguides, without causing any change in the other waveguides that are not desired to transmit outgoing pulse 62.
  • only one of series of the lateral plurality of waveguides is illuminated causing outgoing pulse 62 to outcome through one channel solely, while cross-talk between the channels is prevented.
  • FIG. 3 illustrating schematic top view (a) and side view (b) of 1 ⁇ N parallel arrangement of all-optical nonlinear switches in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • 1 ⁇ N parallel optical switch 100 When observing the side view of 1 ⁇ N parallel optical switch 100, it is similar to the embodiment shown in Figure 1.
  • An incoming pulse 102 that is directed into a straight planar waveguide 104 is diverted to penetrate a lateral waveguide 106 upon a change in the characteristics of the chalcogenide glass it is made from, due to illumination by a driving pulse 108.
  • the top view it is shown that there are several (three in this preferred embodiment) of lateral waveguides 106 that are arranged in parallel.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Nonlinear Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Optical Modulation, Optical Deflection, Nonlinear Optics, Optical Demodulation, Optical Logic Elements (AREA)
  • Optical Integrated Circuits (AREA)

Abstract

Commutateur non linéaire tout optique adapté pour commuter l'orientation d'une impulsion entrante et comprenant un guide d'onde droit et au moins un guide d'onde latéral s'étendant depuis le guide d'onde droit et conçu dans un milieu à base de chalcogénure à indice de réfraction modifiable. Ce milieu à base de chalcogénure comprend des atomes de métaux lourds ; une source de commande adaptée pour induire une modification de l'indice de réfraction dudit milieu. Le commutateur tout optique de cette invention présente un premier état dans lequel la source de commande est trempée et où l'indice de réfraction du guide d'onde droit est supérieur à l'indice de réfraction d'au moins un guide d'onde latéral. Le commutateur tout optique présente un second état dans lequel la source de commande induit une modification de l'indice de réfraction du guide d'onde latéral de sorte que cet indice de réfraction soit pratiquement identique à celui du guide d'onde droit. Dans le premier état, l'impulsion entrante est transmise par le guide d'onde droit, et dans le second état, elle est transmise par au moins un guide d'onde latéral.
PCT/IL2002/000771 2001-09-20 2002-09-17 Milieu a base de chalcogenure et dispositifs optiques Ceased WO2003025626A2 (fr)

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AU2002330728A AU2002330728A1 (en) 2001-09-20 2002-09-17 Chalcogenide-based medium and optical devices therefrom

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IL14551001A IL145510A0 (en) 2001-09-20 2001-09-20 Chalcogenide-based medium and optical devices therefrom
IL145510 2001-09-20

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WO2003025626A3 WO2003025626A3 (fr) 2004-03-04

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Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1471379A1 (fr) * 2003-04-22 2004-10-27 Alcatel Filtre optique reconfigurable
US7447410B2 (en) 2005-07-14 2008-11-04 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology CHG ring resonators
CN115784611A (zh) * 2022-11-17 2023-03-14 湖北新华光信息材料有限公司 硫系光学玻璃及其制备方法和光学元件
US11803011B1 (en) 2022-04-12 2023-10-31 Eagle Technology, Llc Optical switch having latched switch states and associated methods
US11982883B2 (en) 2022-04-12 2024-05-14 Eagle Technology, Llc Optical device having phase change material and associated methods

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Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1471379A1 (fr) * 2003-04-22 2004-10-27 Alcatel Filtre optique reconfigurable
FR2854248A1 (fr) * 2003-04-22 2004-10-29 Cit Alcatel Filtre optique reconfigurable
US7405855B2 (en) 2003-04-22 2008-07-29 Alcatel Reconfigurable optical filter
US7447410B2 (en) 2005-07-14 2008-11-04 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology CHG ring resonators
US11803011B1 (en) 2022-04-12 2023-10-31 Eagle Technology, Llc Optical switch having latched switch states and associated methods
US11982883B2 (en) 2022-04-12 2024-05-14 Eagle Technology, Llc Optical device having phase change material and associated methods
CN115784611A (zh) * 2022-11-17 2023-03-14 湖北新华光信息材料有限公司 硫系光学玻璃及其制备方法和光学元件

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