Techniques to control dispersion in a medium have attracted much attention due
to potential applications to devices such as ring laser gyroscopes, interferometric
gravitational wave detectors, data buffers, phased array radars and quantum information
processors. Of particular interest is an optical resonator containing a medium with an
anomalous dispersion corresponding to fast-light, which behaves as a White Light
Cavity (WLC). A WLC can be tailored to improve the sensitivity of sensing devices as
well as to realize an optical data buffering system that overcomes the delay-bandwidth
product of a conventional cavity.
This dissertation describes techniques to tailor the dispersion for fast-light in
intracavity media. We present first a demonstration of fast-light in a photorefractive
crystal. When placed inside a cavity, such a medium could be used to enhance the
bandwidth of a gravitational wave detector. We then describe how a superluminal laser
can be realized by adding anomalously dispersive medium inside a ring laser. We
identify theoretical conditions under which the sensitivity of the resonance frequency to a change in the cavity length is enhanced by as much as seven orders of magnitude. This
paves the way for realizing a fast-light enhanced ring laser gyroscope, for example. This
is followed by the development of a novel data buffering system which employs two
WLC systems in series. In this system, a data pulse can be delayed an arbitrary amount
of time, without significant distortion. The delay time is independent of the data
bandwidth, and is limited only by the attenuation experienced by the data pulse as it
bounces between two high-reflectivity mirrors. Such a device would represent a
significant breakthrough in overcoming the delay-time bandwidth product limitation
inherent in conventional data buffers.
We then describe our experimental effort to create a fiber-based WLC by using
stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Experimental results, in agreement with our
theoretical model presented here, show that the WLC effect is small under the conditions
supported by current fiber optic technology. We conclude that future efforts to induce a
large WLC effect would require fibers with high Brillouin coefficient and low
transmission loss, as well as optical elements with very low insertion loss and high
power damage thresholds.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-08-7127 |
| Date | 2009 August 1900 |
| Creators | Yum, Ho Nam |
| Contributors | Hemmer, Philip R. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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