Abstract
Many switching and signal processing applications require devices in which a small signal controls a much larger input, i.e., devices that have incremental (or small-signal) gain. We demonstrate a modulation instability-based fiber interferometer switch (MIFIS), an ultrafast all-optical switch near 1.5 µm, which possesses such high incremental gain. In the MIFIS, pulses from a color center laser (CCL) are gated through a fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer1 by weak cw light from a semiconductor laser (SGL). The CCL pump beams (P~3 W) enter both arms of the balanced interferometer, and the phases are adjusted to obtain a nulled output. When ≳4 µW of SCL power is injected into one arm, induced modulation instability (MI)2,3 severely distorts the optical wave in that arm, thereby destroying the interferometer null.
© 1988 Optical Society of America
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