Abstract

Segmented waveguides¹ are formed by a periodic structure of high index refractive segments embedded in a low refractive index substrate (see Figure1). The use of such structures for power limiting is based on the fact that their intrinsic propagation losses are very sensitive to the guiding parameters. Increasing the index difference δn between the guiding parts of the structure and the substrate can lead to dramatic effects on the losses. Since an optical power dependent index change in the guiding and non-guiding parts of the structure can be obtained using the Kerr effect or a χ² cascading process², the structure can act as an optical limiter.

© 2000 IEEE