Effect of frequency detuning on pulse propagation in one-dimensional photonic crystal with a dense resonant medium: application to optical logic

Abstract

We consider propagation of light pulses detuned from the atomic resonance in a dense two-level medium and the photonic structures with it. The large density of the medium is important for decreasing the spatial scale of nonlinear effects such as pulse compression, though it does not provide any fundamentally new phenomena as compared to dilute media. Frequency detuning decreases the effectivity of nonlinear phenomena such as pulse compression and dispersion-spreading compensation as well. We propose simple logic gates based on interaction between two pulses in one-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal. We found that frequency detuning is necessary to obtain ultrafast AND gates, while OR and NOT gates can be realized in the system without detuning.