Abstract
In recent years considerable research has gone into the study of all-optical switching devices in waveguides, where the requirements for a material with a large n2 (nonlinear refractive index) may be relaxed by taking advantage of relatively high power densities and long interaction lengths.1 This is particularly true of glass which, while having a relatively small n2, can be conveniently drawn into optical fibers. Already a number of all-optical switching schemes have been demonstrated in silica fibers.2,3 One possibility to reduce switching powers is to use lead glasses,4 which are known to have an n2 an order of magnitude higher than fused silica. We show here that two-photon absorption (TPA) can place a fundamental restriction on such an approach.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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