Soljacić Marin, Joannopoulos J D
Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Nat Mater. 2004 Apr;3(4):211-9. doi: 10.1038/nmat1097.
The quest for all-optical signal processing is generally deemed to be impractical because optical nonlinearities are usually weak. The emerging field of nonlinear photonic crystals seems destined to change this view dramatically. Theoretical considerations show that all-optical devices using photonic crystal designs promise to be smaller than the wavelength of light, and to operate with bandwidths that are very difficult to achieve electronically. When created in commonly used materials, these devices could operate at powers of only a few milliwatts. Moreover, if these designs are combined with materials and systems that support electromagnetically induced transparency, operation at single-photon power levels could be feasible.
由于光学非线性通常较弱，全光信号处理的探索通常被认为是不切实际的。非线性光子晶体这一新兴领域似乎注定要极大地改变这一观点。理论研究表明，采用光子晶体设计的全光器件有望小于光的波长，并以电子方式很难实现的带宽运行。当在常用材料中制造时，这些器件仅需几毫瓦的功率就能运行。此外，如果将这些设计与支持电磁诱导透明的材料和系统相结合，单光子功率水平下的运行可能是可行的。
