Extremely broadband (visible-IR) all optical switches based on active photonic metamaterials

The primary objective of this proposed research effort is to develop an innovative active photonic metamaterials, which will have extraordinarily large equivalent nonlinear transmission behavior (i.e., the stronger the incoming the light, the larger the attenuation coefficient will be). Thus, a novel all-optical (or called passive) optical switch that has unprecedented performance can be achieved, which offers the following unique capabilities: (1) extremely broadband operation (e.g., 0.4 – 3.0 microns), (2) polarization independent operation, (3) a high blocking rate (OD 3 or better), (4) a high linear transmission (better than 50%) over a broad bandwidth (0.4 – 3.0 microns), and (5) a fast response time (~ ns). A proof-of-concept feasibility study will be conducted at the Phase I stage, which includes (1) synthesizing the proposed active photonic metamaterials with an aperture size (1 square millimeter or larger), and (2) fabricating a proof-of-concept all-optical switch using the synthesized metamaterials, (3) testing and evaluating the performances of the switching (including the bandwidth, the switching speed, the extinction ratio, et al). At the Phase II stage, we will develop the production-scalable process to fabricate the ready-to-use prototype of the proposed optical switch device based on the accomplishments of the Phase I effort. BENEFIT: The successful completion of this proposed research effort represents a major technology breakthrough in the area of optical switches because it can offer such an extremely broadband operation from visible to infrared (IR). It will have a great impact on both the military applications (such as adaptive optics, laser communications, optical/spatial image filtration, et al) and civilian applications (such as telecommunications, biological imaging, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, et al).