An all-optical switch of Mach-Zehnder interferometer type using an active fibre ring resonator

We propose an all-optical switch of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer type using an active nonlinear ring resonator and analyse the significance of the parameter A, a product of gain and total loss, for performing an ideal 1 by 2 switch. We found that in the range of 1 - kappa less than or equal to A less than or equal to root1-kappa, the increment of A can compensate the losses inside the ring, therefore increase the finesse of the ring and enhance the nonlinearity contribution to reduce the switching power threshold effectively. We also emphasize the importance of the initial switching point and discuss the feasibility of utilizing a high-nonlinear fibre in the ring.