ALL-OPTICAL SWITCHING IN 2 CASCADED NONLINEAR DIRECTIONAL-COUPLERS

We report on what is to our knowledge the first demonstration of all-o ptical switching in two integrated nonlinear directional couplers casc aded together in series. The directional couplers were fabricated from AlGaAs and operated at a wavelength of 1.53 mu m, which corresponded to the half-band gap. The two devices were fabricated on the same chip , thereby eliminating coupling and reflection losses. We also report o n the effects of pulse breakup.