Optical bistability in tunable fiber laser using fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

In this letter, a novel mechanism of hybrid optical bistability is proposed by using nonlinear mechanism in the frequency domain. This device is based on electro-optical feedback through the fiber Bragg grating on piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to tune continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. The optical bistable characteristics for two manners of separately alternating input power and bias voltage are discussed. The smallest wavelength shift of the order of 0.001 nm needed to realize a switching process in this optical bistability device is estimated. The potential applications of this device in the optical fiber sensor technique are also discussed.     

Optical bistability in tunable fiber laser using fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

In this letter, a novel mechanism of hybrid optical bistability is proposed by using nonlinear mechanism in the frequency domain. This device is based on electro-optical feedback through the fiber Bragg grating on piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to tune continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. The optical bistable characteristics for two manners of separately alternating input power and bias voltage are discussed. The smallest wavelength shift of the order of 0.001 nm needed to realize a switching process in this optical bistability device is estimated. The potential applications of this device in the optical fiber sensor technique are also discussed.     

Optical switching based on the manipulation of microparticles in a colloidal liquid using strong scattering force

This paper demonstrates the realization of an optical switch by optically manipulating a large number of polystyrene spheres contained in a capillary.The strong scattering force exerted on polystyrene spheres with a large diameter of 4.3 μm is employed to realize the switching operation.A transparent window is opened for the signal light when the polystyrene spheres originally located at the beam centre are driven out of the beam region by the strong scattering force induced by the control light.The switching dynamics under different incident powers is investigated and compared with that observed in the optical switch based on the formation of optical matter.It is found that a large extinction ratio of ～ 30 dB and fast switching-on and switching-off times can be achieved in this type of switch.     

Ultra-wideband optical diode based on photonic crystal 90° bend and directional coupler

We propose an ultra-wideband optical diode device based on two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystals. For the device,the odd mode is completely transmitted in one direction and converted to the fundamental even mode,but completely reflected in the other direction. The operation bandwidth of the device is preserved within a rather wide range of frequencies,which is over 6.5% of the central frequency. A directional coupler and 90° bend are utilized as the composite function device with mode filter and mode converter. It is possible that the photonic crystal device can help to construct on-chip optical logical devices and benefit greatly to the optical systems with multiple spatial modes.     

Phase-locked all-optical differential polarization demodulation

A novel scheme of differential polarization demodulation is presented and demonstrated based on a polarized asym- metrical Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration with polarization control. To enhance the stability of the demodulator, a phase-lock device is designed, and it is composed of a symmetric 3 × 3 coupler and a feedback circuit. For further estab- lishing a differential polarization-shift keying （DPolSK） transmission system, we successfully carry out the demodulation experiments on 10-Gb/s DPolSK optical signals for the first time. Due to the all-optical structure with phase-lock, our scheme is available to realize the DPolSK optical communication in practical optical fiber systems.     

Performance analysis of a novel architecture for contention resolution of OPS

Optical packet switching (OPS) technology can rapidly deliver the enormous network bandwidth and offer high-speed data rate and format transparency. In this paper we propose a novel architecture using all-optical tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) and fiber delay-lines (FDLs) to address the contention problem for OPS in wavelength and time domains. This architecture improves packet switching speed but significantly decreases the number of optical switches comparing with existing architectures. A simulation is also conducted to evaluate the performance of the architecture. The simulation results show that the packet loss probability of this architecture is lower than general architectures.     

基于亚微米尺度干涉阵列的超小型高分辨光谱仪(英文)

We present an ultra compact and high resolution free space optical spectrometer and demonstrate it by using FDTD simulations. The miniature interferometer-based speetrometer is a series of submicron phase objects on a polymethyl methacrylate（PMMA） film with a CCD as the detector. The speetrum is obtained by solving a system of simultaneous linear equations. The Tikhonov regularization method is used to achieve a resolution at the picometer level. Compared with conventional speetrometers, the proposed device is low-cost and easy to fabricate due to its simple structure. Furthermore, its compact feature renders the device ideal for miniaturization and integration as the systems in microfluidics architectures and lab-on-chip designs.     

Micro-light-emitting-diode array with dual functions of visible light communication and illumination

We demonstrate high-speed blue 4 × 4 micro-light-emitting-diode(LED) arrays with 14 light-emitting units(two light-emitting units are used as the positive and negative electrodes for power supply, respectively) comprising multiple quantum wells formed of Ga N epitaxial layers grown on a sapphire substrate, and experimentally test their applicability for being used as VLC transmitters and illuminations. The micro-LED arrays provide a maximum-3-d B frequency response of 60.5 MHz with a smooth frequency curve from 1 MHz to 500 MHz for an optical output power of 165 mW at an injection current of 30 mA, which, to our knowledge, is the highest response frequency ever reported for blue Ga N-based LEDs operating at that level of optical output power. The relationship between the frequency and size of the device single pixel diameter reveals the relationship between the response frequency and diffusion capacitance of the device.     

All-optical switching and nonlinear optical properties of HBT in ethanol solution

This paper demonstrates an all-optical switching model system comprising a single pulsed pump beam at 355 nm and a CW He--Ne signal beam at 632.8 nm with 2-(2^\prime -hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT) in ethanol solution. The origins of the optical switching effect were discussed. By the study of nonlinear optical properties for HBT in ethanol solvent, this paper verified that the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) effect of HBT and the thermal effect of solvent worked on quite different time scales and together induced the change of the refractive index of HBT solution, leading to the signal beam deflection. The results indicated that the HBT molecule could be an excellent candidate for high-speed and high-sensitive optical switching devices.     

An Optical Labeling Scheme with Novel DPSK/PPM Orthogonal Modulation

A novel differential-phase-shift-keying （DPSK）/pulse-position-modulation （PPM） orthogonal modulation is pro- posed for optical labeling applications, with PPM data as the high-speed payload and DPSK signal as the optical label. The systematic setup for the proposed scheme and research on bit-error rate is presented. The results show that at the bit-error rate of 10-~, the power penalties for 70kin fiber transmission are in the range of 1-3 dB to DPSK label and 5-6 dB to PPM payload in our simulation system. This is under the condition that the large extinction ratio of 18-19 dB is used for the intensity modulators of the PPM payload, with a well received DPSK label. Thus the feasibility of the proposed scheme for all optical transmission networks is clearly verified.     

Nonlinear optical switching and all-figures of merit in Bi_2S_(3-x)Se_x/PMMA nanocomposite films investigated by Z scan under visible CW laser

Bi2S3-xSex/poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)nanocomposite films were prepared using microwave assisted synthesis with different compositions of x.Crystal structure,surface morphology,and optical properties were investigated to characterize the prepared nanocomposite films.The crystallinity and optical band gap of the prepared Bi2S3-xSex/PMMA were affected by x.The prepared samples showed a blue shift in the absorption edge.The laser power dependent nonlinear refraction and absorption of Bi2S3-xSex/PMMA nanocomposite films were investigated by using the Z-scan technique.The optical nonlinearity of the nanocomposite films exhibited switchover from negative nonlinear refraction to positive nonlinear refraction to negative nonlinear refraction effects,and from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption to saturable absorption with an increase and decrease in the composition.An interesting all-optical figure of merit was reported to assess the nanocomposite films for a practical device.It was calculated that the device all-figures of merit were based on the nonlinear response,which is important for the all-optical switching device.The results demonstrate that the optimized all-optical figures of merit can be achieved by adjusting the composition and input laser power,which can be used for the design of different all-photonic devices,and the results of nonlinear switching behavior can open new possibilities for using the nanocomposite films in laser Q-switching and mode-locking.     

Seamlessly transformable hybrid packet and circuit switching for efficient optical networks

Efforts in realizing all-optical packet switching are overwhelming in the past decade. While optical packet switching remains an attractive switching paradigm in the long run, technical challenges prohibit it from becoming a practical solution for the ever-growing bandwidth hunger during the next few years. Finding a technically viable way to meet the increasing capacity requirement with good scalability and flexibility becomes a clear pursue for the community. Hybrid packet and circuit switching is considered to be one promising technique in realizing high performance switching at low cost and less energy consumption, by taking the advantage of both packet switching and circuit switching. In this paper, we review existing work in hybrid optical packet and circuit switching. We discuss the key technical challenges in realizing hybrid optical packet and circuit switching. We further introduce our ongoing efforts in building a seamlessly transformable packet/circuit-switching node with hybrid optical and electronic components. We show that in a hybrid node, the scheduling complexity with typical scheduling algorithms may be reduced to half of a node running in full packet switching mode.     

Stability and Group Index Switching in a Four-Level Atomic System

A four-level atomic system is proposed for stability and group index switching in the presence of spontaneously generated coherence. It is found that the transition from optical bistability （OB） to optical multistability （OM） and subluminal to superluminal can be obtained simultaneously. It is shown that the relative phase between applied fields can affect the stability and group index behaviors of weak probe light in the medium. Our proposed model provides a new scheme for simultaneous switching from OB to OM and （sub-to-super） luminal light propagation in an atomic system.     

Resonating properties of passive spherical optical microcavities

As an optically pumped device, the lasing characteristics of a spherical microcavity laser depend on the optical pumping processes. These characteristics can be described in term of the Q factor and the optical field distribution in a microsphere. We derived analytical expressions and carried out numerical calculation for Q factor and optical field. The Q factor is found to be oscillatory functions of the radius of a microsphere and the pumping wavelength, and the pumping efficiency for a resonating microsphere is much higher than that for an anti-resonating microsphere. Using tunable lasers as pumping sources is suggested in order to achieve a higher pumping efficiency. Numerical calculation on optical field distribution in spherical microcavities shows that a well focused Gaussian beam is a suitable incident wave for cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments in which strong confinement of optical field in the center of a microsphere is requested, but higher order spherical wave should be used instead     

Optical Switch Formation in Antimony Super-Resolution Mask Layers Induced by Picosecond Laser Pulses

Sb is a classic material of a super-resolution near field structure （super-RENS） mask layer in which the optical switch formation is often realized by nanosecond laser pulse stimulation. We achieve fast and repeatable optical switching driven by picosecond laser pulses in a proper fluence range on Sb thin films. The optical properties of Sb thin films before and after switching are studied by surface-sensitive micro-area ellipsometry. The change of optical constants after switching is less than 2% in the whole visible range. The Sb mask layer is shown to be very promising for ultrafast super-resolution optical storage applications.     

Dynamic steering beams for efficient force measurement in optical manipulation

An efficient and inexpensive method that uses a glass plate mounted onto a motorized rotating stage as a beam-steering device for the generation of dynamic optical traps is reported.Force analysis reveals that there are drag and trapping forces imposed on the bead in the opposite directions,respectively,in a viscous medium.The trapped bead will be rotated following the beam’s motion before it reaches the critical escape velocity when the drag force is equal to the optical trapping force.The equilibrium condition facilitates the experimental measurement of the drag force with potential extensions to the determination of the viscosity of the medium or the refractive index of the bead.The proposed technique can easily be integrated into conventional optical microscopic systems with minimum modifications.     

Beam wander relieved optical switch using Bessel beams in turbulent atmosphere

The digital micro-mirror device(DMD)-based optical switch has the advantages of high-speed channels reallocation, miniaturization, stability, and large capacity for short reach optical communication in the datacenter.However, thermal turbulent atmosphere in the datacenter would cause perturbations and channel crosstalk for the optical switch. The self-healing optical beams such as the Bessel beams have the non-diffraction property to mitigate the turbulence issue. Here, we propose and demonstrate a Bessel beams enabled DMD-based optical switch to improve the stability and performance of optical communication in turbulent atmosphere. We statistically characterize the beam wanders of the Gaussian and Bessel beams in turbulent atmosphere at temperatures of 60°C and 80°C. We build the two-channel optical switch communication system and measure the bit error rate of the 15 Gbit/s on–off keying signals transmitted by the Gaussian and Bessel beams at temperatures of 60°C and 80°C, respectively. The optical switch using the Bessel beams shows lower bit error rates with weaker fluctuations compared with the Gaussian beams. The DMD-based optical switch using the Bessel beams has the potential for practical optical communication applications in the datacenter.     

A method of generating random bits by using electronic bipolar memristor

The intrinsic stochasticity of resistance switching process is one of the holdblocks for using memristor as a fundamental element in the next-generation nonvolatile memory.However,such a weakness can be used as an asset for generating the random bits,which is valuable in a hardware security system.In this work,a forming-free electronic bipolar Pt/Ti/Ta2O5/Pt memristor is successfully fabricated to investigate the merits of generating random bits in such a device.The resistance switching mechanism of the fabricated device is ascribed to the electric field conducted electrons trapping/de-trapping in the deep-energy-level traps produced by the"oxygen grabbing"process.The stochasticity of the electrons trapping/detrapping governs the random distribution of the set/reset switching voltages of the device,making a single memristor act as a random bit in which the resistance of the device represents information and the applied voltage pulse serves as the triggering signal.The physical implementation of such a random process provides a method of generating the random bits based on memristors in hardware security applications.     

First-principles study on magnetism of different dimensional Ru systems

The magnetism, the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the optical properties of the monolayer and atomic chain of 4d transition-metal Ru are investigated by using the full-potential linearized-augmented-plane-wave method in a generalized gradient approximation. The magnetic moments are 1.039~μ __B/atom and 1.130~μ_B/atom for the monolayer and atomic chain, respectively. Both systems have large magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE). The magnetic easy axis is normal to the monolayer and perpendicular to the chain axis in the atomic chain. The optical properties of the two low-dimensional Ru systems are investigated by calculating the complex optical conductivity tensor. Both systems exhibit anisotropy in photoconductivity, especially for the atomic chain. The physical origins of MAE and photoconductivity are studied based on electronic structures. It is found that the changes in crystal field caused by different symmetry-breaking mechanisms in the two low-dimensional Ru systems result in MAE through spin--orbit coupling, while the anisotropy in photoconductivity mainly comes from the crystallographic anisotropy.     

Design of an optical device with three functions based on coordinate transformation

Based on two-step coordinate transformation along the radial direction, an optical device with three functions is proposed. The proposed device functions as a transparent device, a vision-enabling internal cloak, and a movement-allowing external cloak. The general expressions of material parameters for the optical device are determined, and each function of the device is confirmed using full-wave simulation. The effect of material loss on device performance is also investigated. Future applications for the proposed device include antenna protection and military stealth.