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All‐Optical Light Modulation In Bacteriorhodopsin Films, F. J. Aranda, R. Garimella, N. F. Mccarthy, D. Narayana Rao, D.V.G.L.N. Rao, Z. Chen, J. A. Akkar, D. L. Kaplan

Physics Faculty Publications

We report a convenient method to obtain all‐optical light modulation in bacteriorhodopsin films using a degenerate four‐wave mixing geometry. Chemically stabilized films of bacteriorhodopsin in a polymer matrix for which the lifetime of the excited M state is tens of seconds were used to demonstrate all‐optical light intensity modulation. The films are observed to be stable over a period of 4 years. Due to the sensitivity of the films, small intensities of order microwatt/ cm² are required in the modulation experiments. Furthermore the fast photochemical transition from M to B permit reasonably fast modulation speeds independent of the slow …