RING RESONATOR COUPLED M-Z ALL-OPTICAL SWITCH BY USING A PUMPED NONLINEAR DIRECTIONAL COUPLER

Document Type : Regular Paper

Authors

1 Institute of Modern Optics, Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology Harbin 150001, China

2 Institute of Modern Optics, Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology

Abstract

We propose a new ring resonator side-coupled M-Z interferometer all-optical switch through
the pumped nonlinear directional coupler. By controlling pump power P to lead the coupler reflectivity
r approaching to 1, the resonator finesse will be enhanced dramatically, and then the minimum
switching power in silica-based practice devices can be obtained. As a sample, we use a nonlinear
coupler made by two erbium-doped fibers, and launch a 514.5nm-pump light into one of the cores to
make the reflective- index difference between two cores. Based on the asymmetric-coupler theory, we
simulate the relationship between r and P , and show that the required pump power is only 0.8mW
for r →1 .

Keywords