Optical Kerr shutter using organic nonlinear optical materials in capillary waveguides

Fundamental experiments conducted on optically gated optical switches using organic materials with large optical nonlinearities are reported. An optical Kerr shutter was constructed, whose main part is a long-length and miniature-core glass capillary, filled with a solution of charge transfer organic material of 4-(N,N-diethylamino)- beta -nitrostyrene (DEANST). The capillary waveguide made it possible to enlarge the medium length and to reduce the beam diameter, realizing about 10/sup 4/ times greater efficiency than the conventional CS/sub 2/ optical Kerr shutter using a 1-mm thick cell. A response time of 4 ps was observed and gating power was reduced to 10 W.<>