The Orbital Angular Momentum of Light for Ultra-High Capacity Data Centers

The potential of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light in data center scenarios is presented. OAMs can be exploited for short reach ultra-high bit rate fiber links and as additional multiplexing domain in transparent ultra-high capacity optical switches. Recent advances on OAM integrated photonic technology are also reported. Finally demonstration of OAM-based fiber links (aggregate throughput 17.9 Tb/s) and two layers OAM-WDM-based optical switches are presented exploiting OAM integrated components and demonstrating the achievable benefits in terms of size, weight and power consumption (SWaP) compared to different technologies

Plasmonic nanoantennas as integrated coherent perfect absorbers on SOI waveguides for modulators and all-optical switches

The performance of plasmonic nanoantenna structures on top of SOI wire waveguides as coherent perfect absorbers for modulators and all-optical switches is explored. The absorption, scattering, reflection and transmission spectra of gold and aluminum nanoantenna-loaded waveguides were calculated by means of 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations for single waves propagating along the waveguide, as well as for standing wave scenarios composed from two counterpropagating waves. The investigated configurations showed losses of roughly 1% and extinction ratios greater than 25 dB for modulator and switching applications, as well as plasmon effects such as strong field enhancement and localization in the nanoantenna region. The proposed plasmonic coherent perfect absorbers can be utilized for ultracompact all-optical switches in coherent networks as well as modulators and can find applications in sensing or in increasing nonlinear effects.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Ultracompact and low-power optical switch based on silicon photonic crystals

Switching light is one of the most fundamental functions of an optical circuit. As such, optical switches are a major research topic in photonics, and many types of switches have been realized. Most optical switches operate by imposing a phase shift between two sections of the device to direct light from one port to another, or to switch it on and off, the major constraint being that typical refractive index changes are very small. Conventional solutions address this issue by making long devices, thus increasing the footprint, or by using resonant enhancement, thus reducing the bandwidth. We present a slow-light-enhanced optical switch that is 36 times shorter than a conventional device for the same refractive index change and has a switching length of 5.2 m.The work was funded through the EU FP6-FET “Splash” project and we acknowledge the Nanostructuring Platform of EU FP6-NoE “epixnet” for technical support. T. P. White is supported by an 1851 Royal Commission Research Fellowship

Optical Multicast Routing Under Light Splitter Constraints

During the past few years, we have observed the emergence of new applications that use multicast transmission. For a multicast routing algorithm to be applicable in optical networks, it must route data only to group members, optimize and maintain loop-free routes, and concentrate the routes on a subset of network links. For an all-optical switch to play the role of a branching router, it must be equipped with a light splitter. Light splitters are expensive equipments and therefore it will be very expensive to implement splitters on all optical switches. Optical light splitters are only implemented on some optical switches. That limited availability of light splitters raises a new problem when we want to implement multicast protocols in optical network (because usual multicast protocols make the assumption that all nodes have branching capabilities). Another issue is the knowledge of the locations of light splitters in the optical network. Nodes in the network should be able to identify the locations of light splitters scattered in the optical network so it can construct multicast trees. These problems must be resolved by implementing a multicast routing protocol that must take into consideration that not all nodes can be branching node. As a result, a new signaling process must be implemented so that light paths can be created, spanning from source to the group members

Mixed regime of light-matter interaction revealed by phase sensitive measurements of the dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect

The speed of ultra-fast optical switches is generally limited by the intrinsic electronic response time of the material. Here we show that the phase content of selected electromagnetic pulses can be used to measure the timescales characteristic for the different regimes of matter-light interactions. By means of combined single cycle THz pumps and broadband optical probes, we explore the field-induced opacity in GaAs (the Franz-Keldysh effect). Our phase-resolved measurements allow to identify a novel quasi-static regime of saturation where memory effects are of relevance