Nonlinear Photonic Crystals for Advanced All-Optical Devices and Circuits

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

The inherent speed and potential for parallel processing make signal manipulation in the optical domain an attractive alternative, but one that requires the ability to produce well-defined nonlinear functions (e.g., wavelength conversion, phase-preserving optical multiplication, logic operations), as well as to direct the optical intermediates and outputs as necessary. We propose to expand our exploration of a new class of photonic devices which possess both of these characteristicst nonlinear photonic crystals (NLPCs). We show theoretically that the structure of an NLPC can be successfully determined for a particular nonlinear optical application - a one-step interchange of optical data between two wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) channels. Preliminary measurements confirm the success of this inversion problem (i.e., desired output 4 NLPC structure). We propose to explore the properties of this and related lattice-based devices and circuits. We also intend to extend this work to quasi-periodic and aperiodic nonlinear optical geometries, and to nonlinear distributions based on nanoscale domain distributions. We believe that this research direction will continue to uncover new and powerful applications of all-optical elements for a wide range of disciplines, including telecommunications, signal processing, and remote sensing.