Enhancement of modulation depth of an all-optical switch using an azo dye-ethyl red film

The polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film doped with an azo dye ethyl-red (ER) film is employed to demonstrate the properties of an all-optical switch by its photoinduced dichroism and birefringence. We show how to enhance remarkably the modulation depth of all-optical switches almost to 100% by using two linear polarization beams: one beam is inclined at 45^\circ with respect to the probing beam and serves as a pumping beam, and the other beam is perpendicular to the probing beam and used as an erasing beam. Furthermore, a maximum-to-minimum output intensity ratio of 2000:1 is achieved in experiment, which is very useful and important for optical storages and image displays.