title: Tunable all-optical delays via Brillouin slow light in an optical fiber.
abstract: We demonstrate a technique for generating tunable all-optical delays in room temperature single-mode optical fibers at telecommunication wavelengths using the stimulated Brillouin scattering process. This technique makes use of the rapid variation of the refractive index that occurs in the vicinity of the Brillouin gain feature. The wavelength at which the induced delay occurs is broadly tunable by controlling the wavelength of the laser pumping the process, and the magnitude of the delay can be tuned continuously by as much as 25 ns by adjusting the intensity of the pump field. The technique can be applied to pulses as short as 15 ns. This scheme represents an important first step towards implementing slow-light techniques for various applications including buffering in telecommunication systems.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Yoshitomo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okawachi
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bigelow
authors.forename: Jay E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sharping
authors.forename: Zhaoming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schweinsberg
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gaeta