All-optical parallel switching by the use of guided-wave geometry composed of a thin silver film and a polymer thin film containing organic dye

Toshihiko Nagamura; Kyoichi Sasaki

doi:10.1117/12.326783

9 October 1998 All-optical parallel switching by the use of guided-wave geometry composed of a thin silver film and a polymer thin film containing organic dye

Toshihiko Nagamura, Kyoichi Sasaki

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3466, Algorithms, Devices, and Systems for Optical Information Processing II; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.326783
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1998, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

A novel all-optical parallel switching device was proposed based on photoinduced changes of a complex refractive index in a guided mode thin film composed of silver and polymer containing organic dyes. An incident angle of a probe beam was set at a value corresponding to the minimum reflection due to a guided wave mode. Pulsed laser excitation caused changes of absorption of the polymer films due to excited state formation or photochromism, which resulted in the increase of reflection because the guided mode condition was changed. According to the Kramers-Kronig relationship the real part also changes, which results in the shift of the minimum. We can select the wavelength for all-optical switching in this geometry. We used phthalocyanines and photochromic spiropyran dispersed in poly(vinyl alcohol) or polystyrene. For the former system, transient absorption due to the excited triplet gave a highly reversible very fast modulation of green light upon repeated excitation by ns laser. For the latter, self-held switching was achieved upon UV or visible laser excitation with response times less than 20 ns. The details of these systems will be presented.

Citation Download Citation

Toshihiko Nagamura and Kyoichi Sasaki "All-optical parallel switching by the use of guided-wave geometry composed of a thin silver film and a polymer thin film containing organic dye", Proc. SPIE 3466, Algorithms, Devices, and Systems for Optical Information Processing II, (9 October 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.326783

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available