Switching dynamics of short optical pulses in a nonlinear directional coupler

Author

Shum, P. ; Chiang, Kin Seng ; Gambling, W.A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., City Univ. of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Volume

35

Issue

1

fYear

1999

fDate

1/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

79

Lastpage

83

Abstract

It has been shown recently that the propagation of short optical pulses in a nonlinear directional coupler consisting of two parallel waveguides or fibers should be described more generally by a pair of coupled nonlinear equations that take into account the dispersion properties of the coupling coefficient. In this paper, we use the Fourier series analysis method to solve these equations, and study the effects of a dispersive coupling coefficient on the switching dynamics of short optical pulses in a nonlinear directional coupler. We demonstrate, with numerical examples, that a dispersive coupling coefficient could cause significant pulse distortion and affect the threshold switching intensity. The effects of introducing frequency chirps in the input pulses are also discussed

Keywords

chirp modulation; high-speed optical techniques; nonlinear equations; optical directional couplers; optical fibre couplers; optical modulation; optical switches; Fourier series analysis method; coupled nonlinear equations; coupling coefficient; dispersion properties; dispersive coupling coefficient; frequency chirps; input pulses; nonlinear optical directional coupler; optical fibre couplers; parallel fibers; parallel waveguides; pulse distortion; short optical pulse propagation; short optical pulses; switching dynamics; threshold switching intensity; Directional couplers; Dispersion; Fourier series; Nonlinear distortion; Nonlinear equations; Optical coupling; Optical fiber couplers; Optical propagation; Optical pulses; Optical waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.737623

Filename

737623