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Optical switching by capillary condensation

Nature Photonics volume 1, pages 172–175 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Photonic materials, which have optical properties that can be modulated by light, are extremely interesting both for their fundamental properties as well as for their potential in the applications of all-optical signal processing and possibly optical computing1. Earlier studies have been based on nonlinear photonic crystals, and have required relatively high local light intensities to be used2,3,4,5. We propose a completely different strategy based on the interplay between light propagation and capillary condensation of gases in porous photonic structures. We show experimentally that the local light intensity can alter the gas/liquid phase equilibrium inside the pores, which allows the refractive-index distribution inside the material to be optically tuned. As a specific example, we show how this feature can be used to obtain optical bistability in porous superlattices. Our results provide a new approach for achieving optical control in photonic systems.

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Figure 1: Environment-dependent optical modulation of the photonic-band structure in porous optical superlattices.
Figure 2: Pump-probe characterization of the vapour-induced optical modulation of porous superlattices.
Figure 3: Bistable transmission of a porous optical superlattice exposed to an organic-vapour flow.
Figure 4: Calculated filling-fraction evolution with the incident laser-power.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank P. Bettotti, R. Righini and M. Colocci for discussions, and the entire ‘Optics of Complex Systems’ group at the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS). The work was financially supported by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research through the Cofin 2004 project ‘Silicon-based photonic crystals,’ by the EC (LENS) under contract number RII3-CT-2003-506350, and by the EU through Network of Excellence IST-2-511616-NOE (PHOREMOST).

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  1. European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy and INFM-BEC, via Nello Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, (Florence), Italy

    Pierre Barthelemy, Costanza Toninelli & Diederik S. Wiersma

  2. Department of Physics, Nanoscience Laboratory, University of Trento, via Sommarive 14, Povo, I-38050, (Trento), Italy

    Mher Ghulinyan, Zeno Gaburro & Lorenzo Pavesi

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  1. Pierre Barthelemy
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  2. Mher Ghulinyan
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  6. Diederik S. Wiersma
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Correspondence to Pierre Barthelemy.

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Barthelemy, P., Ghulinyan, M., Gaburro, Z. et al. Optical switching by capillary condensation. Nature Photon 1, 172–175 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.24

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