Eur. Phys. J. D (2012) 66: 148
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30109-2

Regular Article

Low-energy switch based on a cavity soliton laser

¹ Dipartimento di Scienza e Alta Tecnologia, Università dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
² Faculty of Physics, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
³ CNISM, Research Unit of Como, Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
⁴ Institut Non Linéaire de Nice, CNRS and Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, UMR 7335, 1361 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France

^a e-mail: giovanna.tissoni@inln.cnrs.fr

Received: 13 February 2012
Received in final form: 11 April 2012
Published online: 13 June 2012

Abstract

We show that the position of a soliton in a cavity soliton laser can be controlled by injecting incoherent or coherent beams close to the soliton. The interaction between the CS and the injected beam can be attractive or repulsive depending on the type of injection. The energy necessary to drift the soliton can be very small if the injected beam is frequency matched with the soliton and the laser operates near the drift instability threshold of the soliton. In this way an optical switch at very low energy in a miniaturized device can be realized.