Non-linear Polarization in Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

All-optical switches are necessary to fully realize the high capacity of optical telecommunications systems. Semiconductor optical amplifiers exhibit many non-linear properties and a substantial body of work has been done to exploit these properties for switching, wavelength conversion, signal regeneration and gating. Recently there have been reports of a new type of non-linear behaviour which causes rotation of the polarization state of an input beam and furthermore the polarization state of the output beam depends on the intensity of the input beam. This is called non-linear polarization rotation. The origin of this non-linearity has not been determined. The research being undertaken aims to determine the physics behind the non-linear polarization rotation and to assess whether it is possible to exploit the non-linear polarization properties of the SOA for switching applications. This project is the subject of a collaboration with the Physics Department, Trinity College, Dublin and is financed by Enterprise Ireland through the Proof of Concept programme.

 

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