Low-power all-optical switch based on the bend effect of a nm fiber taper driven by outgoing light.

We demonstrate a very simple all-optical switch (AOS) based on the bend effect of a nm fiber taper driven by outgoing light. The AOS operates at relative low control power compared with those of using nonlinear effect. In our configuration, we find that the turnoff and turnon time of the AOS are about 500 ms and 760 ms, respectively. The optimized extinction ratio of about 15 db under 32 mW control light at 980 nm is achieved. This AOS effect will be very useful for creation of different interesting functional devices. (c) 2009 Optical Society of America