Abstract

We present a design for an ultrafast optically driven optical switch capable of subpicosecond switching and recovery times. The switch essentially consists of a phased array in which the phase of the light emitted by each element of the array is optically controlled. The distribution of the far field diffraction pattern from such an array can be varied considerably by altering the phase distribution of the array. The extremely short switching times are obtained by utilizing the optical Stark effect, which involves only virtual transitions, and there are no real carriers to restrict recovery times. The switch is also found to be extremely robust against noise as well as partial failure.

© 1990 Optical Society of America