Optical switching and inversionless amplification controlled by state-dependent alignment of molecules

摘要

Switching anisotropic molecules from strongly absorbing to strongly amplifying through a transparent state is shown to be possible by the application of do or ac control electric fields without the requirement of population inversion. It is based on decoupling of the lower level molecules from the resonant light while the excited ones remain emitting due to their state-dependent alignment. The amplification index may become dependent only on a number of excited molecules and not on the population of the lower state. A suitable class of molecules and applications in optoelectronics, fibreoptics and nanophotonics are outlined.