Nonlinear optical switch utilising organic conjugated material and four wave mixing techniques

摘要

An object of this invention is to provide a nonlinear all-optical switching device (Fig.1) comprising of a waveguide (1) of organic conjugated material forming the nonlinear optical medium.;The nonlinear material exhibits an index of refraction which is a function of the local intensity of light passing through the material.;Light beams (2) passing through the waveguide intersect and interact causing scattering of light out of the beams and into secondary beams (3), providing a spatial switching function. Such an all-optical switch is capable of routing light signals in an optical fibre communication system at rates approaching 1 THz and can be used as an amplifier or modulator and can also form the switch components in optical multiplexers/demultiplexers.