Title :
The energy-limiting characteristics of a polarization-maintaining Sagnac interferometer with an intraloop compressively strained quantum-well saturable absorber
Author :
Burger, Johan P. ; Steier, William H. ; Dubovitsky, Serge
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng.-Electrophys., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
fDate :
8/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
An experimental demonstration of an energy limiter for short pulses at 1550 nm is reported. The limiter is based on an optical fiber Sagnac loop with an intraloop dichroic saturable absorber based on an InGaAsP-based waveguide with compressively strained multiple quantum wells. The saturable absorber is placed asymmetrically in the loop and is used as a Kerr-like nonlinear phase shifter. The device is operated in a novel dual polarization scheme, which offers some unique advantages. Excellent limiting for noise reduction purposes is demonstrated with the device.
Keywords :
Sagnac interferometers; optical Kerr effect; optical fibre polarisation; optical limiters; optical phase shifters; optical pulse shaping; optical saturable absorption; quantum well devices; quantum well lasers; semiconductor optical amplifiers; 1550 nm; InGaAsP; InGaAsP-based waveguide; Kerr-like nonlinear phase shifter; MQW semiconductor amplifier; compressively strained multiple quantum wells; dual polarization scheme; energy limiter; energy-limiting characteristics; intraloop compressively strained quantum-well saturable absorber; intraloop dichroic saturable absorber; noise reduction purposes; optical fiber Sagnac loop; polarization-maintaining Sagnac interferometer; short pulses; Fiber nonlinear optics; Nonlinear optics; Optical interferometry; Optical noise; Optical pulse shaping; Optical refraction; Optical signal processing; Polarization; Quantum wells; Sagnac interferometers;
Journal_Title :
Lightwave Technology, Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JLT.2002.800379
