Citation:
A. Dér, L. Fábián, S. Valkai, E. Wolff, J.J. Ramsden, P. Ormos, Integrated optical devices using bacteriorhodopsin as active nonlinear optical
material, Linear and Nonlinear Optics of Organic Materials VI, edited by Robert A. Norwood,
Proceedings of SPIE Volume 6331, pp. 633119-1-633119-8, (2006)
Abstract:
Coupling of optical data-processing devices with microelectronics,
telecocommunication and sensory functions, is among the biggest challenges in
molecular electronics. Intensive research is going on to find suitable nonlinear
optical materials that could meet the demanding requirements of optoelectronic
applications, especially regarding high sensitivity and stability. In addition
to inorganic and organic crystals, biological molecules have also been
considered for use in integrated optics, among which the bacterial
chromoprotein, bacteriorhodopsin (bR) generated the most interest. bR undergoes
enormous absorption and concomitant refractive index changes upon initiation of
a cyclic series of photoreactions by a burst of actinic light. This effect can
be exploited to create highly versatile all-optical logical elements. We
demonstrate the potential of this approach by investigating the static and
dynamic response of several basic elements of integrated optical devices. Our
results show that, due to its relatively high refractive index changes, bR can
be used as an active nonlinear optical material to produce a variety of
integrated optical switching and modulation effects.
