One-dimensional photonic bandgap optical limiter design

We propose a compact, passive optical limiter incorporating nonlinear materials in a multi-layer photonic bandgap (PBG) structure. A coupled-mode theory that includes interaction between counter-propagating optical pulses and diffraction describes the complex transmission and reflection coefficients. Two materials with different nonlinear refraction and absorption coefficients make up the individual layers. Transverse modulational instabilities appear as the intensity increases; this effect is exploited to improve the optical limiter performance by inserting an aperture in the system. Investigating the role that material combinations play in determining the transmission characteristics optimizes the device design. Our results indicate that PBG devices can improve the dynamic range by more than a factor of two over homogeneous material designs.