Phase- and Polarization-Insensitive All-Optical Switching by Self-Guiding in Quadratic Media

G. Leo and G. Assanto

Opt. Lett. 22, 1391-1393 (1997)

Abstract:

We numerically demonstrate that a frequency-degenerate process through Type II down-conversion in a quadratic nonlinear waveguide leads to the formation of spatial simultons and all-optical switching in the presence of a control signal. This novel effect is phase-independent, generally insensitive to the polarization and weakly affected by the magnitude of the control input. Multiple solitary waves can also be obtained depending on the details of the interaction.