All-optical bistable switching, hard-limiter and wavelength-controlled power source

Abstract

In this paper, an all-optical bistable switching operation of resonant-tunneling devices with ultra-small photonic crystal cavity was demonstrated. The whole structure was based on a square lattice photonic crystal formed by rods of refractive index nr= 3.4 in an air background. The cavity was surrounded by eight nonlinear rods of refractive index nL0= 3.1 and nonlinear Kerr coefficient n2= 9 × 10–17 W/m2. Nonlinear finite difference time domain method was used to get a bistability hysteresis loop. Next, all-optical wavelength controlled power source (WCPS), hard-limiter and switching operation based on optical nonlinearity were shown. And that small cavity structure has a small length of 12 mm. Considering the numerous applications and small length, this proposed structure has various potential function in all-optical circuits. Keywords