Abstract

We analyze the operation of a tunable device that is composed of two channel waveguides that are fabricated on a nonlinear substrate and of two adjacent electrodes, where the evanescent fields of the two guided modes overlap. The optical power-dependent propagation constant of the guided modes is modified locally as the power leaks from one channel waveguide to the other, resulting in a continuous change in the local phase matching. We present a general expression for the operation of the device together with a numerical example that demonstrates that the device acts as an all-optical gate, discriminator, and limiter, having a speed that is limited only by the transit time along the channels and the response time of the material.

© 1982 Optical Society of America

Coupling characteristics of a diffused channel-waveguide directional coupler

Uma Jain, Anurag Sharma, K. Thyagarajan, and A. K. Ghatak
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72(11) 1545-1549 (1982)

Enhanced nonlinearity of the propagation constant of a long-range surface-plasma wave

Dror Sarid, R. T. Deck, and J. J. Fasano
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72(10) 1345-1347 (1982)

Effective thickness of optical waveguides in tunable directional couplers

A. Gedeon
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(5) 615-618 (1974)

Optical rectangular waveguide in titanium-diffused lithium niobate having its optical axis in the transverse plane

Mario N. Armenise and Marco De Sario
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72(11) 1514-1521 (1982)

Temporal soliton switching in a rectangular nonlinear directional coupler

Anca L. Sala, Brian G. Bagley, and Robert T. Deck
Appl. Opt. 38(24) 5133-5143 (1999)