SBIR Phase I: Highly Nonlinear Total Internal Reflection (HINTIR) Fiber for All-Optical Wavelength Conversion

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在生产一种用于全光信号处理的高度非线性HGH折射率对比度全内反射光纤(HINTIR光纤)。这种光纤的非线性响应比典型的石英光纤大五个数量级。由于这种非同寻常的非线性增强，这些1.55微米的HINTIR光纤将优于大多数非线性应用。制造HINTIR光纤的主要工程挑战是寻找具有非常不同的光学性能(即非常不同的折射率)和非常相似的热机械性能的高度非线性材料，这是在一根光纤中共拉这些材料所必需的。HINTIR光纤可以成为一大类全光设备的使能技术，包括波长转换、全光逻辑、全光脉冲整形和再生等。本项目将重点关注这些光纤在波长转换方面的应用。2002年，光网络设备的市场规模为120亿美元。线卡约占这个市场的50%。它们通过将信号从光域转换到电域并以不同的波长返回(OEO转换)来执行波长转换，并通过在电域中处理信号来重新生成信号。这需要昂贵的高速电子和光电子设备以网络的线速运行。如果部署在全光网络的环境中，建议的技术可以极大地减少对OEO转换的需求，从而打开一个价值60亿美元的市场。虽然全光网络的采用还没有发生，但设备供应商和网络运营商预计在几年内就会采用全光网络，届时现有的网络容量将会用完。这一转变将打开一个巨大的市场

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to produce a highly nonlinear hgh-index-contrast total internal reflection fiber (HINTIR Fiber) for all-optical signal processing. The projected nonlinear response of this fiber is five orders of magnitude greater than that of a typical silica fiber. Because of this extraordinary enhancement of non-linearity, these HINTIR Fibers will be superior for most nonlinear applications at 1.55 micron. The main engineering challenge in manufacturing HINTIR Fibers is finding highly nonlinear materials with highly dissimilar optical properties (i.e. very different indices of refraction) and very similar thermo-mechanical properties, which are necessary for co-drawing these materials in a single fiber. HINTIR Fibers could be an enabling technology for a large class of all-optical devices, including wavelength conversion, all-optical logic, all-optical pulse reshaping and regeneration, etc. This project will focus on the application of these fibers for wavelength conversion. The optical networking equipment was a $12B market in 2002. Line cards account for roughly 50% of this market. They perform wavelength conversion by converting the signal from the optical to the electrical domain and back at a different wavelength (OEO conversion) and signal regeneration by processing the signal in the electrical domain. This requires expensive high-speed electronic and opto-electronic devices operating at the line rate of the network. If deployed in the context of an all-optical network, the proposed technology could dramatically reduce the need for OEO conversions, thus opening up a $6B market. While the adoption of all-optical networks has not happened yet, it is expected to take place in a few years by both the equipment vendors and the network operators, when current network capacity is used up. This transition will open up a large market