Open AccessAll-optical switch consisting of two-stage interferometers controlled by using saturable absorption of monolayer graphene
Author(s) -
Masayuki Oya,
Hiroki Kishikawa,
Nobuo Goto,
Shinichiro Yanagiya
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.027322
Subject(s) - astronomical interferometer , optical switch , saturable absorption , materials science , graphene , picosecond , optics , interferometry , absorption (acoustics) , photonics , switching time , optoelectronics , laser , physics , nanotechnology , wavelength , fiber laser
At routing nodes in future photonic networks, pico-second switching will be a key function. We propose an all-optical switch consisting of two-stage Mach-Zehnder interferometers, whose arms contain graphene saturable absorption films. Optical amplitudes along the interferometers are controlled to perform switching between two output ports instead of phase control used in conventional switches. Since only absorption is used for realizing complete switching, insertion loss of 10.2 dB is accompanied in switching. Picosecond response can be expected because of the fast response of saturable absorption of graphene. The switching characteristics are theoretically analyzed and numerically simulated by the finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM).