Sub-nanosecond all-optically reconfigurable photonics in optical fibres

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Information Technology

Background:

• Reconfigurable photonic systems are crucial for dynamic control and switching of optical signals.
• Existing systems often require complex electrical control or are limited in functionality.
• Need for energy-efficient, versatile photonic platforms for next-generation technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel all-optical platform for dynamic light control in multimode and multicore fibers.
• To demonstrate key photonic operations including power splitting, mode conversion, and core switching.
• To explore the potential for energy-efficient photonic systems and optical computing hardware.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a low-power probe beam and a counter-propagating control beam within multimode and multicore fibers.
• Achieved simultaneous phase-matching for all probe-control beam four-wave mixing interactions.
• Tuned control beam power to dynamically reconfigure the probe modal state.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated all-optical reconfiguration of light propagation at the sub-nanosecond timescale.
• Successfully implemented tuneable power splitting, mode conversion, core-to-core switching, and remote probe characterization.
• Experimental results validated by a theoretical model applicable to fibers with arbitrary modes and cores.

Conclusions:

• The developed all-optical platform offers unprecedented versatility for dynamic photonic control.
• This approach is a critical step towards next-generation, energy-efficient photonic systems.
• Potential applications include photonic programmable hardware for optical computing and machine learning.