Upconverted photobleaching and nonlinear effects of optical beam self-action in dye-doped polymer waveguides

Sergey S. Sarkisov; Aaron Wilkosz; Michael J. Curley; Darnell E. Diggs; Curtis E. Banks; Ronald D. Clark; Benjamin G. Penn

doi:10.1117/12.323502

25 September 1998 Upconverted photobleaching and nonlinear effects of optical beam self-action in dye-doped polymer waveguides

Sergey S. Sarkisov, Aaron Wilkosz, Michael J. Curley, Darnell E. Diggs, Curtis E. Banks, Ronald D. Clark, Benjamin G. Penn

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3417, Photopolymer Device Physics, Chemistry, and Applications IV; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.323502
Event: Lasers and Materials in Industry and Opto-Contact Workshop, 1998, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

We report on optical beam self-action in a waveguide made of poly(methyl methacrylate) doped with laser dye DCM upon its upconverted photobleaching produced by radiation of a low power CW He-Ne laser. Nonlinear effects of self-action produce spatially stable beam structures usually interpreted as dark spatial solitons in media with negative Kerr-like nonlinearity. We demonstrate experimentally that the proposed mechanism of self-action is more likely upconverted photobleaching, i.e. photobleaching by short wavelength radiation resulting from frequency upconversion of the primary red laser light. Upconversion is not a multi-photon process. It possibly occurs as a result of inhomogeneous line broadening and excitation of thermally populated higher vibrational energy states in the ground state of the dye molecules. Theoretical model of beam propagation is based on the Shrodinger-type nonlinear propagation equation complemented by the rate equation for photobleaching. The result of simulations are in good agreement with experimental data. Possible applications of the studied effects include photonic switching and optical interconnects.

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Sergey S. Sarkisov, Aaron Wilkosz, Michael J. Curley, Darnell E. Diggs, Curtis E. Banks, Ronald D. Clark, and Benjamin G. Penn "Upconverted photobleaching and nonlinear effects of optical beam self-action in dye-doped polymer waveguides", Proc. SPIE 3417, Photopolymer Device Physics, Chemistry, and Applications IV, (25 September 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.323502

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