Controlled absorption and all-optical diode action due to collisions of self-induced transparency solitons

Abstract

We study inelastic collisions of counter-propagating self-induced transparency solitons in a homogeneously broadened two-level medium. The energy of the pulse can be almost totally absorbed in the medium due to asymmetric collision with a properly chosen control pulse. The medium state thus prepared demonstrates the property of an all-optical diode which transmits pulses from one direction and blocks from another. The saturation process of a controlled absorption effect, local-field correction influence, and the parameter ranges for the diode action are studied as well.

7 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Bistable diode action in left-handed periodic structures
• All-optical diode action in asymmetric nonlinear photonic multilayers with perfect transmission resonances
• Femtosecond pulses in a dense two-level medium: Spectral transformations, transient processes, and collisional dynamics
• Compression of an intensive light pulse in a dense resonant medium and photonic-band-gap structures containing it
• Local field effect as a function of pulse duration

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Propagation of subcycle pulses in a two-level medium: Area-theorem breakdown and pulse shape
• Ultrashort pulses in an inhomogeneously broadened two-level medium: soliton formation and inelastic collisions
• Tunable virtual gain in resonantly absorbing media
• Optical kinks and kink-kink and kink-pulse interactions in resonant two-level media
• Disorder-induced light trapping enhanced by pulse collisions in one-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystals
• All-optical transmission modulation due to inelastic interactions of ultrashort pulses in a disordered resonant medium