In all-optical switches using the cascade of second harmonic generation and difference frequency mixing in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide devices, walk-off between the fundamental and second harmonic pulses causes crosstalk between neighboring symbols, and limits the switching performance. In this paper, we numerically study retiming characteristics of all-optical switches that employ the PPLN waveguide devices with consideration for the effects of the crosstalk and for the input timing of the data and clock pulses. We find that the time offset between the data and clock pulses can control the timing jitter of the switched output; an appropriate offset can reduce the jitter while improving the switching efficiency.

1 × N active multi-mode interferometer laser diode (MMI LD) is proposed and demonstrated to realize single-wavelength edge-emitter without using grating configuration. As the 1 × N active-MMI LDs are based on longitudinal mode interference, they have a potential of single-wavelength emission without incorporating any grating layer on/beneath active layer. The fabricated devices showed single-wavelength emission with a side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of 12dB at a wavelength of 1.57µm.

We fabricate a 763-nm laser module based on second-harmonic generation using a direct-bonded quasi-phase-matched LiNbO3 ridge waveguide. We obtained a 0.84-mW output of 763 nm light using a 1526-nm distributed-feedback laser diode. We also demonstrate O2 gas detection using the module output.

This paper describes recent progress in research on wavelength converters that employ quasi-phase-matched LiNbO3 (QPM-LN) waveguides. The basic structure and operating principle of these devices are presented. The conversion efficiency in difference frequency generation (DFG), second harmonic generation (SHG) and an SHG/DFG cascade scheme are explained. Device fabrication technologies such as periodic poling, and those used for annealed proton-exchanged (APE) waveguides, and direct bonded waveguides are introduced. An APE waveguide is used to demonstrate the wavelength conversion of broadband (> 1 Tbit/s) WDM signals. The low penalty conversion of high-speed (40 Gbit/s) based WDM signals is also reported. Excellent resistance to photorefractive damage in a direct bonded waveguide is presented. This high level of resistance enabled highly efficient wavelength conversion. A new design concept is introduced for a multiple QPM device based on the continuous phase modulation of a periodically poled structure. This multiple QPM device enables the variable wavelength conversion of WDM signals. High-speed wavelength switching between ITU-T grid wavelengths using a finely tuned multiple QPM device is also reported. QPM-LN based wavelength converters have several advantages, including the ability to convert high-speed signals of 1 THz or greater, no signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio degradation, no modulation format dependence, and they are capable of the simultaneous conversion of broadband WDM channels. They will therefore be key devices in future photonic networks.

A three-dimensional beam propagation method based on a finite element scheme is described for the analysis of second harmonic generation devices. For the wide-angle beam propagation analysis, the Pade approximation is applied to the differential operator along the propagation direction. In order to avoid spurious reflection from the computational windows edges, the transparent boundary condition is introduced. Numerical results are shown for quasi-phase matched second harmonic generation devices using periodically domain-inverted LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 waveguides. The influences of the shape of domain-inverted regions and the inversion width on the conversion efficiencies are investigated in detail.

In order to estimate elasticity distribution of living soft tissue by ultrasonic pulse-echo method, we developed an algorithm by which we estimate 2-D displacement vector field from two successive rf echo data frames. The algorithm estimates a displacement vector iteratively by matching the phase characteristics of the local regions of two data frames. The estimation process is composed of coarse one and the fine one. In the coarse estimation process, the displacement is estimated by detecting the peak of the 2-D cross-correlation function. In the fine process, the displacement is estimated iteratively by shifting the 2nd frame data so that the phase characteristics matches with that of the 1st frame data. In each iterative step of both processes, the estimated displacement vector field is spatially smoothed. This proposed algorithm exhibits excellent performance in obtaining accurate and smooth distribution of displacement vector which is required to obtain strain distribution and finally shear modulus distribution. We conducted an experiment on an agar phantom which has inhomogeneous shear modulus distribution. Using the proposed method, we obtained 2-D displacement field with reasonable accuracy. We reconstructed a relative shear modulus map using axial strain assuming 1-D stress condition. The reconstructed map using the calculated axial strain through 2-D displacement estimation algorithm was satisfactory, and was clearly superior to the one through 1-D displacement estimation algorithm. The proposed 2-D displacement field estimation algorithm seems to be a versatile and powerful tool to measure strain distribution for the purpose of tissue elasticity estimation under various deformation conditions.