Cascading for Large Effective Third Order Nonlinearities
Abstract
The goal was to investigate phenomena associated with the cascading of second order nonlinear optical processes and identify potential applications. Two categories of cascading effects were found: effects due to the periodic power exchange between beams leading to a nonlinear phase shift; and the formation and properties of quadratic spatial solitons. In the first category, high throughput, all-optical switching has been demonstrated in a nonlinear directional coupler, a mode mixer and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer implemented in LINbO3 channel waveguides. Also, a novel approach to optical diode action based on second harmonic generation in asymmetric structures was demonstrated. In the soliton case, beam steering, all-optical switching, and a new family of quadratic solitons have been demonstrated experimentally in bulk media. Solitons due to down conversion via the seeded parametric instability have been observed and applications to high gain, output limiting devices identified. It has been shown that high intensity beams are unstable in quadratic media and can lead to the generation of single solitons (beam clean-up) and multiple solitons in one and two dimensions. In slab waveguides, quadratic solitons have been generated in LINbO3 waveguides and their interactions shown to closely resemble those obtained in bulk saturable third order media.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 18, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA344452
Entities
People
- G. Stegeman
Organizations
- University of Central Florida