Assessment of single crystal p-toluene sulfonate as an all-optical switching material at 1.3 μm

We evaluate the potential of single crystal PTS (p-toluene sulfonate) for all-optical applications at the 1.32 μm communications wavelength by measuring the electronic and thermo-optic nonlinearities, and the multiphoton absorption with picosecond pulses. With appropriate heat sinking, duty cycles greater than 25% should be possible without significant cumulative thermal effects for 1 W operating powers.