Nlo waveguide 'and' switch and method therefor

Abstract

Method and apparatus are provided for NLO switching by first providing a phase-matched SHG grating which outputs a reinforced SHG beam only when two input beams of frequency (.omega.) are present in two modes of such wg. The so encoded NLO switch is operated by directing at least two input pulsed laser beams of frequency (.omega.) into the two modes of the wg to generate a reinforced pulsed output SHG beam and output same from the wg in an NLO switching process. The two input beams desirably have a separate pulse train and the spatial and temporal overlap of the input beams are adjusted such that at least some of the pulses of each pulse train sufficiently overlap to generate and output reinforced SHG pulse signals and thus output an on-off data signal. A detector then reads and processes the output signals. Such NLO switch will allow integrated circuitry to operate at faster rates and to allow, eg. aircraft to communicate, switch, compute, sense, display and respond much faster than state-of-the-art circuitry based on electronics switching.