Femtosecond-scale switching based on excited free-carriers

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 23; no. 12; pp. 16416 - 16428
• Main Authors: Sivan, Y, Ctistis, G, Yüce, E, Mosk, A P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.06.2015

We describe novel optical switching schemes operating at femtosecond time scales by employing free carrier (FC) excitation. Such unprecedented switching times are made possible by spatially patterning the density of the excited FCs. In the first realization, we rely on diffusion, i.e., on the nonloc...