Resonantly enhanced nonlinear optical switching in rare-earth-doped fibers

Robert W. Sadowski; Michel J. F. Digonnet; Richard H. Pantell; H. John Shaw

doi:10.1117/12.141118

23 March 1993 Resonantly enhanced nonlinear optical switching in rare-earth-doped fibers

Robert W. Sadowski, Michel J. F. Digonnet, Richard H. Pantell, H. John Shaw

Proceedings Volume 1789, Fiber Laser Sources and Amplifiers IV; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.141118
Event: Fibers '92, 1992, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

We report low loss, low pump power, optical-optical switches in rare-earth-doped fibers based on the third-order optical nonlinearity resonantly enhanced by the dopant. In a 0.95-m Er- doped two-mode fiber switch pumped with a 1.48-micrometers diode laser, the absorbed pump power required for switching a 906-nm signal was 8 mW, for a signal loss of only 0.25 dB. This is an enhancement by a factor of 6200 in power-length product over undoped silica. The phase shift was found to be due in part to a non-resonant contribution, thought to arise from a strong UV-VUV transition, and in part to a resonant term from the 980-nm transition. In a 0.98-m Nd-doped, elliptical-core, two-mode fiber switch, switching of a 632.8-nm signal was achieved with only 6.6 mW of absorbed power at 900 nm. The dynamic response of the switch was found to have two components, a slow component equal to the metastable level lifetime (approximately equals 380 microsecond(s) ) and a fast component (approximately equals 2 microsecond(s) ). The latter is believed to arise from rapid cross-relaxation between paired ions, a mechanism which shows promises for low- power, microsecond switching in fibers.

Citation Download Citation

Robert W. Sadowski, Michel J. F. Digonnet, Richard H. Pantell, and H. John Shaw "Resonantly enhanced nonlinear optical switching in rare-earth-doped fibers", Proc. SPIE 1789, Fiber Laser Sources and Amplifiers IV, (23 March 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.141118

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