Demonstration of Zeno switching through inverse Raman scattering in an optical fiber

We report the observation of Zeno switching through an inverse Raman scattering (IRS) process in an optical fiber. In IRS, light at the anti-Stokes frequency is strongly attenuated in the presence of a pump field, allowing it to be used for all-optical switching and modulation. Our observed level of induced absorption via IRS in the optical fiber is > 20 dB in a time scale of less than 5 ps. The full Raman response spectrum was extracted experimentally and excellent agreement was found between the experimental data and theoretical modeling of IRS.