Spectral switching control of ultrafast pulses in dual core photonic crystal fibre

Abstract

The work presented in this paper is a study of an all-optical narrow-band switch in extended spectral area by dual core photonic crystal fibre expressing nonlinear coupler performance. The investigation is focused on the nonlinear propagation of femtosecond pulses in the near infrared spectral region at up to 50 kW peak power which induces spectral broadening through almost two octaves. The mutual effect of nonlinear spectral transformation and field redistribution between the two fibre cores is analyzed by both theoretical and experimental approaches. The simulation of the nonlinear propagation is based on coupled generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equations. A modified numerical model utilizing split-step Fourier method was adapted for dual core fibres. The complex experimental study was accomplished for various input settings such as polarization, intensity and selective coupling into each core and the selective detection of spectra from each core. The presented work encompasses promising results obtained regarding a spectral intensity switch between the two output channels by input intensity or polarization change in the S-band of optical communication systems.