Abstract

Photorefractive and free-carrier nonlinearities in GaAs transfer energy from a strong picosecond pump, which is linearly polarized at an arbitrary angle to a weak s-polarized probe, into a p-polarized beam propagating in the probe direction. By placing the GaAs between a crossed pair of high-quality polarizers that are set to extinguish the probe in the absence of the pump, an efficient, high-contrast, high-speed optical switch is realized. By varying the pumpprobe ratio, delay, fluence, and polarization, we can maximize the intensity of the p-polarized component. This intensity with the pump present divided by that without the pump, the on-off ratio, is approximately 2 at fluences as low as 0.03 mJ/cm(2) and approaches 10,000 at fluences of 15 mJ/cm(2) and pump polarizations of 45 degrees .

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.