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Nonlinear optics

Controlling photons with light

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 136–137 (2008)Cite this article

A strongly nonlinear photonic crystal with a wavelength-tunable bandgap could provide the solution to realizing all-optical switches for signal processing.

Photonic crystals are dielectric materials with a periodic structure that gives them fascinating optical properties. They can efficiently reflect wavelengths of light that are resonant with the crystal periodicity, which not only gives them a beautiful angular-dependent colour, but also provides them with the ability to trap light in specific frequency windows called photonic bandgaps1,2. Thanks to their capacity to confine light, photonic crystals can serve as the basis material for the development of photonic components capable of processing signals optically3. In practice, a photonic bandgap can be created, for instance, by drilling a periodic array of submicrometre-sized holes in a planar waveguide. This inhibits the propagation of light in the waveguide at frequencies within the bandgap. Leaving out or filling in a row of holes then creates a waveguide, and filling in, for instance, one specific hole creates a microresonator. To create photonic components that can process optical signals, like an optical switch or multiplexer, it is crucial to functionalize the material. That is, it should be possible to control the local optical response of the photonic crystal to an optical signal with a second optical control signal. This optical response should also be very fast to cope with high-bandwidth optical signals. On page 185 of this issue4, Xiaoyong Hu and colleagues at Peking University report on an elegant approach to optical signal control by creating a strongly nonlinear photonic crystal. The nonlinearity in their material is capable of rapidly shifting the wavelength of the photonic bandgap when the control signal is present, thereby switching the transmission of the optical signal on and off. Previous attempts to achieve such nonlinearities required much higher intensities than could be realistically implemented in actual devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diederik Sybolt Wiersma is at the European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy and INFM-CNR, Sesto-Fiorentino, 50019 Florence, Italy. wiersma@lens.unifi.it,

    Diederik Sybolt Wiersma

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Wiersma, D. Controlling photons with light. Nature Photon 2, 136–137 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.13

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