Technology Opportunities

Since its early prediction, self-deflection of optical beams has been considered one of the most exciting manifestations of nonlinear optics. Self-deflection occurs when a single beam propagates in a non-linear medium, develops an asymmetric profile and consequently curves and carves its own trajectory which is determined by the beam intensity. Applications for self-deflected beams range from optical interconnects, laser printers and optical scanners to low-cost, low-weight and compact optical limiters but until now, progress with beam self-deflection has been limited. This invention is able to achieve deflections 12 times greater than what has previously been achieved while operating at powers hundreds of time lower than conventional devices, offering a large step forward in this field.