Optical interferometer generating a mode-locked laser oscillation, all-optical switch, all-optical asymmetric demultiplexer and all optical pulse reshaping apparatus
AssigneeFujitsu Limited
InventorKohki Mukai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An all-optical switch, an all-optical signal waveform reshaping element and an all-optical asymmetric demultiplexer are formed of an optical interferometer having a compact and simple structure. Nonlinear gain media are provided at positions different from each other in two arms of a Mach-Zehnder optical interferometer. Then, an optical cavity is formed by mounting a mirror on an optical input-output port in each of a first and a second multi-mode optical interferometers connected with the two arms. Furthermore, when a saturable absorption medium is placed on the mirror of one of the multi-mode optical interferometers, a mode-locked laser oscillation is induced.
Claims18
An optical interferometer, comprising:
- a first and a second optical waveguides separately extending from a first side to a second side facing the first side, the first and the second optical waveguides optically connected each other on said first side and said second side;
- and
- an optical cavity including said first and said second optical waveguides and extending between a first end part formed on the first side and a second end part formed on the second side,
- wherein said optical cavity has an optical output port provided on the first side by optically connecting the optical output port to said first and said second optical waveguides and an optical input port provided on the second side by optically connecting the optical input port to said first and the second optical waveguides, a first and a second nonlinear gain media optically inducing variation of a refractive index are provided in interiors of said first and said second optical waveguides, respectively, said optical cavity includes a saturable absorption medium provided on the first side by connecting the saturable absorption medium to said first and the second optical waveguides, and a mode-locked laser oscillation arises in said optical cavity.
An all-optical pulse reshaping apparatus for outputting a pulse light corresponding to an external pulse light supplied to an optical input port from an optical output port, comprising:
- an optical interferometer, comprising:
- a first and a second optical waveguides separately extending from a first side to a second side facing the first side, the first and the second optical waveguides optically connected each other on said first and said second sides;
- and an optical cavity including said first and said second optical waveguides and extending between a first end part formed on the first side and a second end part formed on the second side, wherein said optical cavity has said optical output port provided on the first side by optically connecting the optical output port to said first and said second optical waveguides and said optical input port provided on the second side by optically connecting the optical input port to said first and said second optical waveguides, a first and a second nonlinear gain media optically causing variation of a refractive index are provided in said first and said second optical waveguides, respectively, and said optical cavity includes a saturable absorption medium provided on the first side by connecting the saturable absorption medium to said first and said second optical waveguides,
- wherein a mode-locked laser oscillation arises in said optical cavity, and said mode-locked laser oscillation has a pulse frequency lower than a pulse frequency of said external pulse light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.