Optical Switching by Stimulated Thermal Rayleigh Scattering

摘要

Preliminary experiments were conducted whose ultimate goal is to develop all-optical control functions useful in an all-optical or optical-electronic hybrid digital computer or for optical interconnects. Stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering (STRS) based upon generator experiments was pursued for scattering angles of 90 deg and 180 deg (backscattering). A pulsed nitrogen laser pumped dye laser served as the radiation source and the interaction medium was a liquid to which an absorbing dye was added. STRS amplifier experiments were successful and gain was observed and studied parametrically using eosine dye in ethanol. The gain was found to increase (although the gain coefficient decreased) with increasing pump power and the gain was found to be a maximum at an absorption coefficient of about 2.6 per cm. The generator experiments did not lead to stimulated scattering due to the limited output power of the laser and its multi-longitudinal spectral mode content. These studies will be continued along with analytical modeling in order to characterize the interaction and to enable the optimization of the scattering process.