Title

Non-Hermitian engineering of synthetic saturable absorbers for applications in photonics

Authors

M. H. Teimourpour, Michigan Technological University
A. Rahman, Michigan Technological University
K. Srinivasan, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Ramy El-Ganainy, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-20-2017

Abstract

We explore a type of synthetic saturable absorber based on quantum-inspired photonic arrays. We demonstrate that the interplay between optical Kerr nonlinearity, interference effects, and non-Hermiticity through radiation loss leads to a nonlinear optical filtering response with two distinct regimes of small and large optical transmissions. More interestingly, we show that the boundary between these two regimes can be very sharp. The threshold optical intensity that marks this abrupt “phase transition” and its steepness can be engineered by varying the number of the guiding elements. The practical feasibility of these structures as well as their potential applications in laser systems and optical signal processing are also discussed.

Publisher's Statement

© 2017 American Physical Society. Article deposited here in compliance with publisher policies. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.014015

Publication Title

Physical Review Applied

Recommended Citation

Teimourpour, M. H., Rahman, A., Srinivasan, K., & El-Ganainy, R. (2017). Non-Hermitian engineering of synthetic saturable absorbers for applications in photonics. Physical Review Applied, 7. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.014015
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/physics-fp/94

Version

Publisher's PDF