Ultrafast All-Optical Signal Modulation Induced by Optical Kerr Effect in a Tellurite Photonic Bandgap Fiber

Abstract

Ultrafast all-optical signal modulation induced by optical Kerr effect (OKE) was demonstrated in an all-solid tellurite photonic bandgap fiber (PBGF) which was designed and fabricated based on TeO2–Li2O–WO3–MoO3–Nb2O5 (TLWMN, high-index rods), TeO2–ZnO–Na2O–La2O3 (TZNL, background), and TeO2-ZnO-Li2O-K2O-Al2O3-P2O5 (TZLKAP, cladding) glasses. At the input of a control pulse with high intensity, OKE occurred in the tellurite PBGF and the transmission bands of the tellurite PBGF shifted. The signal at 1.57 μm transmitting in the fiber core can be ultrafast all-optically modulated by the ultrafast single pulse (200 kW, 200 fs) under OKE, where the modulation speed can reach 50 GHz, faster than some commercial LiNbO3 modulators. The results in this paper can be applied to multi-monitors, local area network, detectors, multi-sources, etc.