NONLINEAR MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT FOR 0.8 AND 1.315 MICRONS

STIMULATED PHOTON ECHOES HAVE BEEN RECOGNIZED AS MEANS BY WHICH PULSED COHERENT OPTICAL INFORMATION CAN BE STORED AND RETRIEVED USING FOUR-WAVEMIXING GEOMETRIES. STIMULATED ECHOES CAN BE TEMPORARILY AND SPATIALLY SEPARATED USING COUNTER-PROPAGATING EXCITATION GEOMETRIES, SUGGESTING THAT BACKWARD STIMULATED ECHOES CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN OPTICAL PROCESSOR DESIGNS. THIS EFFECT IS UNIQUE TO INHOMOGENEOUSLY BROADENED ATOMIC SYSTEMS WHICH HAVE A FINITE NUMBER OF QUANTUM STATES COUPLED BY RESONANT INTERACTIONS, AND HAVE OFTEN BEEN OBSERVED IN OPTICALLY ACHIEVE RARE EARTH ION SYSTEMS. RECENTLY, FLUORIDE GLASSES HAVE SHOWN PARTICULAR PROMISE AS A HOST TO RARE EARTH IONS ACTIVE AT 1.3 MICRONS. THIS SUBMISSION PROPOSES USING A JUDD-OFELT ANALYSIS TO EXAMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING RESONANTLY DRIVEN RARE EARTH IONS DOPED IN HEAVY-METAL FLUORIDE GLASSES AS AN OPTICAL PROCESSOR MATERIAL AT 0.8 AND 1.315 MICRONS. IT WILL FOCUS ON THE ABILITY OF SELECTED HOSTS TO MEMORIZE PHASES OF THE CORRESPONDING OPTICAL FIELDS.