Nonlinear Self-Flipping of Polarization States in Asymmetric Waveguides

Abstract

Waveguides of subwavelength dimensions with asymmetric geometries, such as rib waveguides, can display nonlinear polarization effects in which the nonlinear phase difference dominates the linear contribution, provided the birefringence is sufficiently small. We predict that self-flipping polarization states can appear in such rib waveguides at subwatt power levels. We describe an optical power-limiting device with optimized rib waveguide parameters that can operate at low power with switching properties.