OPTICAL SWITCHING AND OPTICAL DATA PROCESSING APPLICATIONS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS HAS BEEN EXPLORED IN THE PAST FOR APPLICATIONS SUCH AS LOGIC ELEMENTS, MICROWAVE DETECTORS AND SOURCES. HOWEVER, VERY LITTLE WORK IF ANY HAS BEEN REPORTED ON APPLICATION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY FOR FABRICATION OF INFRARED DETECTORS, INFRARED SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS AND INFRARED TO VISIBLE WAVELENGTH SHIFTERS. A NOVEL TECHNIQUE WHICH COMBINES SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND NONLINEAR OPTICS IS PROPOSED TO IMPLEMENT INFRARED SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS AND OPTICAL SWITCHES. THE NONLINEAR OPTICAL PROPERTIES TO BE EXPLOITED FOR THESE DEVICES ARE THE FARADAY ROTATION AND THE COTTONMOUTON EFFECT. THESE EFFECTS ARE INDUCED BY APPLICATION OF MAGNETIC FIELDS. IN ADDITION, THE POSSIBILITY OF USING HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS AS FAR INFRARED SOURCES AND DETECTORS WILL BE INVESTI-GATED. PHASE I TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES WILL DEVELOP THE PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES AND A MODEL FOR THE DEVICES, EXPERIMENTALLY TEST THE VALIDITY OF THE CONCEPTS AND IDENTIFY THE PROMISING MATERIALS FOR DEVICE APPLICATIONS.