Properties and Potential Applications of Nonlinear Interference Filters.

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. This thesis reports a mainly experimental investigation of the properties and potential applications of optically bistable cavities. Firstly, the use of optothermal nonlinear interference filter devices, operated at wavelengths far greater than the band-edge of the spacer material, has been investigated. Significant reductions in switching energy and photostructural damage were observed with respect to previous devices which utilised intra-cavity absorption. In addition, these devices exhibited compatibility with a larger number of laser sources. Also, a study of polarisation bistability and high contrast switching in all-isotropic nonlinear cavities has been performed both theoretically and experimentally. The specific application of optically bistable interferometers to optical signal routing has also been studied. Analysis of device requirements and the inclusion of such devices in all-optical routing networks is presented. Finally, the experimental realisation of an all-optical programmable logic gate is shown. The programmable logic gate is an important element in the proposed optical cellular logic image processor (CLIP) architecture.