Abstract

Bacteriorhodopsin is a photosensitive molecule found in the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium. To investigate the possibility of using photoinduced changes in its refractive index in the 650–800-nm region for photonic switching, we prepared solid dry bacteriorhodopsin films with low scattering and examined their optical properties in a Fabry–Perot cavity. Interference fringes, generated on irradiation of the cavity with a near-IR laser beam at 792 nm, were shifted by simultaneous exposure to a 5-mW/mm² beam at 543.5 nm. This result indicates that such a Fabry–Perot cavity may be used as a photonically controlled spatial light modulator.

© 1994 Optical Society of America

Bacteriorhodopsin films as spatial light modulators for nonlinear-optical filtering

R. Thoma, N. Hampp, C. Bräuchle, and D. Oesterhelt
Opt. Lett. 16(9) 651-653 (1991)

Spatial light modulation based on photoinduced change in the complex refractive index of bacteriorhodopsin

Hiroyuki Takei and Norio Shimizu
Appl. Opt. 35(11) 1848-1854 (1996)

Spectral transmission properties of a self-similar optical Fabry–Perot resonator

M. Bertolotti, P. Masciulli, and C. Sibilia
Opt. Lett. 19(11) 777-779 (1994)

Determination of the refractive index of a bacteriorhodopsin film

Chunping Zhang, Q. Wang Song, Chin-Yu Ku, Richard B. Gross, and Robert R. Birge
Opt. Lett. 19(18) 1409-1411 (1994)

Finite-difference time-domain modeling of dispersive nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavities

Scott A. Basinger and David J. Brady
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11(8) 1504-1511 (1994)