Contribution à la conception des switches tout optique dans les cristaux photoniques non linéaires

Abstract

All optical switching, or the transition from a physical state to another, is an essential aim for integrated optics. It is a promising alternative for the electrical switches, which requires an electro-optical conversion; it allows a miniaturization of the components, a reduction of energy as well as a high speed and processing time. The aim of this contribution is to study, conceive by simulation and optimize a new all optical switches in photonic crystals, by exploiting optical non-linearity. They must be competitive to their predecessors in terms of energy, transmission, processing time and facility of integration. An all optical switch based on nonlinear photonic crystal cavities, exploits the change of refractive index under excitation of a high field, known by the Kerr effect. When a cavity exposes a high quality factor with an ultra-small modal volume, the field will be improved of a factor Q/V and the frequency shift required for commutation decrease. Based on this approach, a low switching power is expected in a hybrid non-linear photonic crystal combining SOI substrate, with polystyrene, chosen for its significant non-linear Kerr coefficient.Then, in a general context, an approach to design a practical application of the switch is developed, in the case of all optical logic gates in order to conceive an all optical encoder switch (4x2). The design and the optimization of the devices presented in this thesis are based on the simulations carried out by the software "Rsoft-FullWAVE" available at TTNS laboratory.