Nonlinear Organic Liquid-Cored Fiber Array for All-Optical Switching and Sensor Protection Against Short-Pulsed Lasers

A nonlinear fiber array capable of large-field-of-view visible image transmission and all-optical switching of subnano and nanoseconds laser pulses is described. The transparent fiber core liquid is found to possess large effective nonlinear absorption coefficients arising from two-photon and excited state absorptions. These multiphoton absorption characteristics are further enhanced by the fiber geometry to enable low threshold and large dynamic range of operation to clamp the transmission of short laser pulses to below the maximum-permissible-exposure levels of sensors.