Optical Pulse Storage, Shaping, and Wavelength Conversion in Resonators With Controllable Input Coupling

By controlling the coupling coefficient into a small optical resonator, the energy of an incoming pulse can be completely captured and stored within the cavity. This paper describes the conditions for complete energy capture and shows that this transfer is relatively robust to various deviations from ideal conditions. Once captured inside the optical resonator, the energy can be released with an arbitrary delay and pulse shape by again controlling the resonator coupling coefficient. In addition, the wavelength of the output pulse can be shifted through the use of an internal cavity-phase modulator. Applications of these effects will be important in the design of future optical storage and buffering devices.