title: Normalized pulsed energy thresholding in a nonlinear optical loop mirror.
abstract: We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that a Sagnac interferometer can threshold the energies of pulses. Pulses below a given threshold T are suppressed, while those above this threshold are normalized. The device contains an in-loop tunable isolator and 10.4 m of a highly doped silica fiber. We derive an analytical model of the nonlinear optical loop mirror's pulse energy transfer function and show that its energy transfer function approximates a step function for very high phase shifts (>π). We reveal some limitations of this approach, showing that a step-function transfer function necessarily results in pulse distortion in fast, nonresonant all-optical devices.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nahmias
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Shastri
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Tait
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eder
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rafidi
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Prucnal