Microwave-induced optical limiting

Abstract

We study the generation and control of the microwave (MW)-induced reverse saturable absorption (RSA) and optical limiting (OL) in a three-level pump-probe V-type quantum system. It is shown that the saturable absorption switches to the RSA by applying the MW field to the transition between two upper levels. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the RSA and the induced OL threshold are controlled by either the intensity or detuning of the MW field. In addition, the effect of the coupling field on the induced optical limiting is studied, and it is obtained that the cross-Kerr nonlinearity has a major role in establishing efficient optical power limiting. In addition, we demonstrate that an increase in the atomic density and length of the medium makes the optical limiter more powerful. Finally, the theoretical Z-scan technique is presented to confirm the obtained results of the microwave-induced OL. The proposed scheme can be used to prepare a controllable optical limiter with various thresholds, which can protect the optical devices with different sensitivities.