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Stable nonlinear Mach-Zehnder fiber switch

Patent ·
OSTI ID:872375
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Palo Alto, CA
  2. Menlo Park, CA
  3. Camp Doha, KW
+ Show Author Affiliations

An all-optical fiber switch is implemented within a short Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration. The Mach-Zehnder switch is constructed to have a high temperature stability so as to minimize temperature gradients and other thermal effects which result in undesirable instability at the output of the switch. The Mach-Zehnder switch of the preferred embodiment is advantageously less than 2 cm in length between couplers to be sufficiently short to be thermally stable, and full switching is accomplished by heavily doping one or both of the arms between the couplers so as to provide a highly nonlinear region within one or both of the arms. A pump input source is used to affect the propagation characteristics of one of the arms to control the output coupling ratio of the switch. Because of the high nonlinearity of the pump input arm, low pump powers can be used, thereby alleviating difficulties and high cost associated with high pump input powers.

Research Organization:
Stanford University
DOE Contract Number:
FG03-92ER12126
Assignee:
Board of Trustees for Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford, CA)
Patent Number(s):
US 5920666
OSTI ID:
872375
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (4)

Analysis of nonlinear optical switching in an erbium-doped fiber journal January 1993
All-optical switching using color centers in an irradiated phosphorus-doped fiber journal July 1996
All-optical switching using color centers in irradiated silica fibers
  • Sadowski, Robert W.; Digonnet, Michel J. F.; Pantell, Richard H.
  • SPIE's 1994 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, SPIE Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188701
conference October 1994
Wavelength-flattened 2 × 2 splitters made of identical single-mode fibers journal January 1991

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Related Subjects

/385/372/
accomplished
advantageously
affect
all-optical
alleviating
arm
arms
associated
characteristics
cm
configuration
constructed
control
cost
cost associated
couplers
coupling
difficulties
doping
effects
embodiment
fiber
fiber switch
gradients
heavily
highly
implemented
input
input power
instability
interferometer
length
mach-zehnder
mach-zehnder interferometer
minimize
minimize temperature
nonlinear
nonlinearity
optical fiber
output
output coupling
powers
preferred
preferred embodiment
propagation
provide
pump
pump power
ratio
region
result
source
stability
stable
sufficiently
switch
switching
temperature
temperature gradient
temperature gradients
temperature stability
thermal
thermal effects
thermally
thermally stable
undesirable