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Nonlinear photonic crystal for optical power limiting

I.V. Guryev1,2, I.A.Sukhoivanov2, E. Alvarado Mendez2, M. Trejo-Duran2, J.A. Andrade Lucio2,
R. Rojas-Laguna2, O. Ibarra-Manzano2, J. Estudillo Ayala2
1
Kharkov National University of Radio Electronics, Ukraine
2
DICIS, University of Guanajuato, Mexico
I const = I i R (I ) I i I a ,

Abstract: In the paper, we present the theoretical

investigations of the nonlinear 1D and 2D photonic crystals
which possess optical power limiting effect. The parameters
of the structures were found as well as radiation intensities
and wavelengths the stabilization is observed at. Numerical
experiments have been carried out which approved the
power stabilization at the output of the structures. The
structures proposed are very promising for optical power
limiting at the input of all-optical photonic integrated
circuits.

where I i is the radiation

intensity that incidents the structure and I a is the intensity
absorbed by the structure. Thus, the intensity transmitted
can be found from the following relation:
R (I i ) =

Ia
I i I const I a
I
.
= 1 const
Ii
Ii

(1)

Here, we considered 1D PhC which period consists

of linear and nonlinear layer as well as 2D nonlinear PhCs
which materials possess optical nonlinearity. The
nonlinearity provides the reflectance dependence of the
whole structure on the radiation intensity. In fig. 1 it is
shown the set of curves R(I) obtained by numerical solution
of the Helmholtz equation for nonlinear 1D and 2D PhC by
means of finite-elements iterative method [5]. The structure
when irradiated with the radiation at specific wavelength,
possesses reflection minimum at specific intensity which
depends on the wavelength. The R(I) curves can be

INTRODUCTION
Today, one of the most important challenges in alloptical communications and information processing
networks is to develop the effective optical power limiter on
the basis of structures with periodic modulation of refractive
index [1] which provide high-dense packaging of the
integrated elements within the photonic integrated circuit
(PIC). Earlier, the optical power limiting effect was
observed in such devices as nonlinear Cristiansen filters [2]
and the anisotropy induced organic liquids [3]. The limiting
effect was also reported in 1D periodic structures due to the
materials refractive index contrast growth with optical
power [4]. Such devices are represented by the layered
structure with layers' refractive indices initially equal. The
layers are made of nonlinear materials with different
nonlinearity coefficient. As the radiation intensity increases,
different variation of layers' refractive indices appear. Due
to this effect, the step-index (or any other periodic) structure
appears according to the field distribution. This can cause,
at certain conditions, the limitation of optical radiation
power at the output of such structure.
In our work we found the geometry parameters of the
1D and 2D PhCs with materials possessing Kerr saturable
nonlinearity which allow optical power limiting at certain
level.

a)

INVESTIGATION RESULTS
The main function of an optical power limiter is to
stabilize an intensity I const of an optical radiation. The
problem consists in finding the parameters of the structure,
the wavelength and the intensity range of the radiation
which will provide the stabilization of the radiation intensity
at certain level I const .
For this reason let's represent I const as a radiation
intensity passing the structure with absorption. At that

b)
Fig. 1. Reflectance dependence of the 1D (a) and 2D (b)
nonlinear PhC on the radiation intensity

978-1-4244-3731-3/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

88

approximated by the analytical function (1) which may be

represented in form of parametric function:
R (I ) = 1

P1
,
I P2

basis of such PhCs at low and high levels of the radiation

intensity.
The spectrum shift at high radiation intensity points
to the possibility of the radiation intensity stabilization at
the specific PhC parameters at certain power level. The
analytical dependence has quite good agreement with
numerical modeling results both for 1D and 2D PhCs which
give high accuracy of the stabilization of the output
radiation intensity within the limits considered in the work.
Due to the essential real-time characteristics tuning,
the devices on the basis of nonlinear PhCs can be used in
wide class of scientific and technical applications such as
high-dense packed active elements of all-optical information
processing circuits, active and passive components of alloptical networks, sensors for environment control, sensors
for security systems for purpose of detecting of explosives,
weapons, and technological defect production sensors.

(2)

where P1 stands for I const I a and P2 has physical

meaning of the auxiliary light source intensity. When P2
equals 0, the auxiliary radiation is absent and self-limiting
effect is observed.
The approximation of the numerical experiment
results give us the wavelength and corresponding radiation
intensity I const the output radiation will be stabilized at.
The intensity stabilization is demonstrated by the
numerical experiment (see fig. 2). In the figure, the radiation
is stabilized after threshold intensity both in case if 1D and
2D PhCs.

REFERENCES
[1] Mingaleev S.F., Kivshar Yu.S. Nonlinear transmission
and light localization in photonic-crystal waveguides J.
of OSA B., vol. 19, pp. 2241-2249, 2002.
[2] George L. F., Robert W. B., Thomas R. M., Sipe E.,
Nonlinear-optical Christiansen filter as an optical
power limiter Optics Letters, vol. 21, . 20, pp. 16431645, 1996
[3] Huang Y., Siganakis G., Moharam M., Wu S.-T.
Broadband optical limiter based on nonlinear photo
induced anisotropy in bacteriorhodopsin film Appl.
Phys. Lett., vol 85, 22, pp. 5445- 5447, 2004
[4] Brzozowski L., Sargent E. H., Optical Signal
Processing Using Nonlinear Distributed Feedback
Structures, IEEE J. Of Quant. Electron, vol. 36, 5,
pp. 550-555, 2000
[5] Igor V. Guryev, Oleksiy V. Shulika, Igor A.
Sukhoivanov, Olga V. Mashoshina, Improvement of
characterization accuracy of the nonlinear photonic
crystals using finite elements-iterative method, Appl.
Phys. B: Lasers and Optics, vol. 84, 1-2, pp.83-87,
2006

a)

b)
Fig. 2. Output radiation intensity dependence on the
input one for 1D (a) and 2d (b) nonlinear PhC

CONCLUSION
In the work it has been investigated 1D and 2D
periodic structures with materials demonstrating Kerrnonlinearity. There were obtained spectra of devices on the

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