Picosecond all-optical switching and dark pulse generation in a fibre-optic network using a plasmonic metamaterial absorber

• Main Authors: Xomalis, Angelos, Demirtzioglou, Iosif, Jung, Yongmin, Plum, Eric, Lacava, Cosimo, Petropoulos, Periklis, Richardson, David J., Zheludev, Nikolay I.
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Plasmonic Metamaterial Absorber; Fibre-optic Network; DRNTU::Science::Physics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/83144; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47588
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Coherent interaction of two light waves on a film of subwavelength thickness provides remarkable opportunities for controlling intensity and polarization of light beams as well as all-optical image processing. Here, we show that such interactions can be used for optical dark pulse generation and basic all-optical signal processing in fully fiberized coherent information networks with 1 THz bandwidth. With an encapsulated plasmonic metamaterial absorber operating in the telecommunications C-band, we demonstrate switching and dark pulse generation with 1 ps laser pulses.