Peter M Goorjian

6865208, Mar 8, 2005

Jun 10, 2002

10/171554

Peter M. Goorjian - Oakland CA, US
Cun-Zheng Ning - San Jose CA, US

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

H01S005/00
H01S003/00

372 50, 372 3802

Ultrafast directional beam switching is achieved using coupled VCSELs. This approach is demonstrated to achieve beam switching frequencies of 40 GHz and more and switching directions of about eight degrees. This switching scheme is likely to be useful for ultrafast optical networks at frequencies much higher than achievable with other approaches.

7333735, Feb 19, 2008

Jun 30, 2004

10/885533

Peter M. Goorjian - Oakland CA, US

United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - Washington DC

H04B 10/00

398182, 398183, 398118

Ultrafast directional beam switching, using coupled VCSELs is combined with a light modulator to provide information transfer at bit rates of tens of GHz. This approach is demonstrated to achieve beam switching frequencies of 32-50 GHz in some embodiments and directional beam switching with angular differences of about eight degrees. This switching scheme is likely to be useful for ultrafast optical networks at frequencies much higher than achievable with other approaches. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a Fabry-Peror etalon, or a semiconductor-based electro-absorption transmission channel, among others, can be used as a light modulator.

56510799, Jul 22, 1997

Aug 25, 1995

8/528621

Peter M. Goorjian - Oakland CA

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

G02B 635

385 16

The present invention is directed toward a unique ultra-fast, all-optical switching device or switch made with readily available, relatively inexpensive, highly nonlinear photonic glasses. These photonic glasses have a sufficiently negative group velocity dispersion and high nonlinear index of refraction to support stable light bullets. The light bullets counterpropagate through, and interact within the waveguide to selectively change each others' directions of propagation into predetermined channels. In one embodiment, the switch utilizes a rectangularly planar slab waveguide, and further includes two central channels and a plurality of lateral channels for guiding the light bullets into and out of the waveguide. One advantage presented by the present all-optical switching device lies in its practical use of light bullets, thus preventing the degeneration of the pulses due to dispersion and diffraction at the front and back of the pulses. Another feature of the switching device is the relative insensitivity of the collision process to the time difference in which the counter-propagating pulses enter the waveguide, since, contrary to conventional co-propagating spatial solitons, the relative phase of the colliding pulses does not affect the interaction of these pulses.

59636831, Oct 5, 1999

Apr 25, 1997

8/845733

Peter M. Goorjian - Oakland CA

The United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

G02B 635

385 16

A unique ultra-fast, all-optical switching device or switch is made with readily available, relatively inexpensive, highly nonlinear optical materials, which includes highly nonlinear optical glasses, semiconductor crystals and/or multiple quantum well semiconductor materials. At the specified wavelengths, these optical materials have a sufficiently negative group velocity dispersion and high nonlinear index of refraction to support stable light bullets. The light bullets counter-propagate through, and interact within the waveguide to selectively change each others' directions of propagation into predetermined channels. In one embodiment, the switch utilizes a rectangularly planar slab waveguide, and further includes two central channels and a plurality of lateral channels for guiding the light bullets into and out of the waveguide. An advantage of the present all-optical switching device lies in its practical use of light bullets, thus preventing the degeneration of the pulses due to dispersion and diffraction at the front and back of the pulses. Another advantage of the switching device is the relative insensitivity of the collision process to the time difference in which the counter-propagating pulses enter the waveguide, since, contrary to conventional co-propagating spatial solitons, the relative phase of the colliding pulses does not affect the interaction of these pulses.