Optical Limiting in Photonic Crystal Fibers

摘要

Optical limiters provide sensor protection from laser energy by clamping the energy at a safe level. We present theoretical and experimental results on a new type of optical limiter based on self phase modulation and photonic crystal fibers. This unique combination allows one to engineer the limiting energy level by designing the fiber parameters to suit the particular application. We have shown that the limiting energy depends on the effective mode area of the fiber, the passband width of the propagating fiber mode, the length of the fiber, and the nonlinear refractive index of the gas (or other material) filling the fiber core.