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arXiv · 1510.08028

Experimental Realization of a Reflective Optical Limiter

Jarrett H. Vella·John H. Goldsmith·Andrew T. Browning·Nicholaos I. Limberopoulos·Ilya Vitebskiy·Eleana Makri·Tsampikos Kottos
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Abstract

Optical limiters transmit low-intensity light, while blocking laser radiation with excessively high intensity or fluence. A typical passive optical limiter absorbs most of the high level radiation, which can cause irreversible damage. In this communication we report the first experimental realization of a reflective optical limiter, which does not absorb the high-level laser radiation, but rather reflects it back to space. The design is based on a periodic layered structure composed of alternating SiO2 and Si3N4 layers with a single GaAs defect layer in the middle. At low intensities, the layered structure displays a strong resonant transmission via the localized defect mode. At high intensities, the two-photon absorption in the GaAs layer suppresses the localized mode along with the resonant transmission, the entire layered structure turns highly reflective within a broad frequency range covering the entire photonic band gap of the periodic layered structure. By contrast, a stand-alone GaAs layer would absorb most of the high-level radiation, thus acting as a basic absorptive optical limiter. The proposed design can only perform at shortwave IR, where GaAs displays negligible linear absorption and very strong nonlinear two-photon absorption. With judicious choice of optical materials, the same principle can be replicated for any other frequency range.

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Jarrett H. Vella, John H. Goldsmith, Andrew T. Browning, Nicholaos I. Limberopoulos, Ilya Vitebskiy, Eleana Makri, Tsampikos Kottos. 2016-05-28. Experimental Realization of a Reflective Optical Limiter. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevapplied.5.064010

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