Normalized pulsed energy thresholding in a nonlinear optical loop mirror

We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that a Sagnac interferometer can threshold the energies of pulses. Pulses below a given threshold T are suppressed, while those above this threshold are normalized. The device contains an in-loop tunable isolator and 10.4 m of a highly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 2015-04, Vol.54 (11), p.3218-3224
Main Authors: Nahmias, M A, Shastri, B J, Tait, A N, Eder, M, Rafidi, Nicole, Tian, Yue, Prucnal, P R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Approximation
Devices
Distortion
Energy transfer
Isolators
Mathematical models
Nonlinearity
Thresholds
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Summary:We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that a Sagnac interferometer can threshold the energies of pulses. Pulses below a given threshold T are suppressed, while those above this threshold are normalized. The device contains an in-loop tunable isolator and 10.4 m of a highly doped silica fiber. We derive an analytical model of the nonlinear optical loop mirror's pulse energy transfer function and show that its energy transfer function approximates a step function for very high phase shifts (>π). We reveal some limitations of this approach, showing that a step-function transfer function necessarily results in pulse distortion in fast, nonresonant all-optical devices.
ISSN:1559-128X
2155-3165
DOI:10.1364/AO.54.003218