Bistable element
First Claim
1. A bistable element comprising:
- a multi-mode interference optical waveguide provided on a substrate, and having a number M of ports formed in one end face thereof (M is integers more than one), and a number N of ports formed in another end face (N is integers more than zero, and less than M or equal to M);
a first group of optical waveguides provided on said substrate, and including a number M of optical waveguides, each of which has one end face connected to a corresponding port formed in the one end face of said multi-mode interference optical waveguide; and
a second group of optical waveguides provided on said substrate, and including a number N of optical waveguides, each of which has one end face connected to a corresponding port formed in the other end face of said multi-mode interference optical waveguide,characterized by the fact that said multi-mode interference optical waveguide includes a saturable absorbing region in which saturation in an amount of absorbed light is caused by the fact that an absorbing coefficient is reduced as an intensity of incident light becomes larger.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A bistable element (100) comprising: a multi-mode interference optical waveguide (1), has two ports on one edge face (1a) thereof, and has one port on the other edge face (1b) thereof; a first group of optical waveguides (2), and each of which is composed of two optical waveguides each having one edge face connected to each port arranged on the one edge face (1a) side of the multi-mode interference optical waveguide (1); and a second group of optical waveguides (3), and each of which is composed of one optical waveguide having one edge face connected to each port arranged on the other edge face (1b) side of the multi-mode interference optical waveguide (1). The multi-mode interference optical waveguide (1) has a saturable absorption region (22) where the absorption coefficient is reduced to cause the saturation of the amount of absorbed light when the intensity of incident light becomes high.
91 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A bistable element comprising:
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a multi-mode interference optical waveguide provided on a substrate, and having a number M of ports formed in one end face thereof (M is integers more than one), and a number N of ports formed in another end face (N is integers more than zero, and less than M or equal to M); a first group of optical waveguides provided on said substrate, and including a number M of optical waveguides, each of which has one end face connected to a corresponding port formed in the one end face of said multi-mode interference optical waveguide; and a second group of optical waveguides provided on said substrate, and including a number N of optical waveguides, each of which has one end face connected to a corresponding port formed in the other end face of said multi-mode interference optical waveguide, characterized by the fact that said multi-mode interference optical waveguide includes a saturable absorbing region in which saturation in an amount of absorbed light is caused by the fact that an absorbing coefficient is reduced as an intensity of incident light becomes larger. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification