Optical limiter

1. An optical power limiter comprising

an input optical transmission element,

an output optical transmission element, and

a power-limiting element disposed between said input and output elements for transmitting optical signals from said input element to said output element, said power-limiting element comprising

an optically transparent solid dielectric matrix material having a refractive index that changes with temperature and containing dispersed light-absorbing nano-powder particles of at least one material that is reversibly heated in response to light above a predetermined optical power level, the heating of said solid nano-powder particles in turn heating said matrix material to produce non-linear changes in the refractive index of said matrix material due to thermal gradients between particles and thereby changing the optical transmission properties of said power-limiting element, said particles having a diameter of less than 0.1 micron and said material being at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Ni, Va, Ti, Co, Cr, C, Re and Si.

2. The optical power limiter of claim 1 , wherein said optical-limiting solid mixture comprises light-absorbing particles dispersed in an optically transparent matrix material.

3. The optical power limiter of claim 2 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is a polymeric material.

4. The optical power limiter of claim 2 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is selected from the group consisting of polymethylmethacrylate and its derivatives, epoxy resins, glass, sol-gel material and spin-on glass.

5. The optical power limiter of claim 2 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is an inorganic glass material.

6. The optical limiter of claim 1 , wherein said solid mixture is placed in an optical system of limited numerical aperture.

7. The optical limiter of claim 6 , in which said solid mixture is packaged between the ferrule tips of two physical contact mated connectors.

8. The optical limiter of claim 6 , wherein said solid mixture is packaged between two bare fibers, in line.

9. The optical limiter of claim 8 , wherein said bare fibers are aligned using a V groove.

10. The optical limiter of claim 8 , wherein said bare fibers are aligned using a ferrule with a hole.

11. The optical limiter of claim 8 , wherein said bare fibers form opposed end faces angled to reduce back reflection.

12. The optical limiter of claim 8 , wherein said bare fibers form opposed end faces, and including a spacer between said opposed end faces to provide a preselected distance between said end faces.

13. The optical limiter of claim 1 , in which said solid mixture is the core material of a waveguide.

14. The optical power limiter of claim 1 wherein limiting said optical limiting solid mixture turns permanently opaque when exposed to predetermined powers above a threshold power.

15. An optical power-limiting method for limiting the optical power of

optical signals transmitted from an input optical transmission element to an output optical transmission element, comprising

placing a power-limiting element between said input and output elements, said power-limiting element comprising an optically transparent solid dielectric matrix material having a refractive index that changes with temperature and containing dispersed light-absorbing solid nano-powder particles of at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Ni, Va, Ti, Co, Cr, C, Re and Si and having a diameter of less than 0.1 micron, and

reversibly heating said nano-powder particles in response to light above a predetermined optical power level, the heating of said solid nano-powder particles in turn heating said matrix material to produce non-linear changes in the refractive index of said matrix material due to thermal gradients between particles and thereby changing the optical transmission properties of said power-limiting element.

16. The optical power-limiting method of claim 15 , wherein said power-limiting element comprises an optical-limiting solid mixture containing particles of at least one material that produces reversible thermal changes in response to light above a predetermined optical power level.

17. The optical power-limiting method of claim 15 , wherein said optical-limiting solid mixture comprises light-absorbing particles dispersed in an optically transparent matrix material.

18. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is a polymeric material.

19. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is at least one material selected from the group consisting of polymethylmethacrylate and its derivatives, based on epoxy resins, glass, sol gel derived and spin-on glass.

20. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , wherein said optically transparent matrix material is an inorganic glass material.

21. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 wherein said solid mixture is placed in an optical system of limited numerical aperture.

22. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , in which said solid mixture is packaged between the ferrule tips of two physical contact mated connectors.

23. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , wherein said solid mixture is packaged between two bare fibers, in line.

24. The optical power-limiting method of claim 23 , wherein said bare fibers are aligned using a V groove.

25. The optical power-limiting method of claim 23 , wherein said bare fibers are aligned using a ferrule with a hole.

26. The optical power-limiting method of claim 23 , wherein said bare fibers form opposed end faces angled to reduce back reflection.

27. The optical power-limiting method of claim 23 , wherein said bare fibers form opposed end faces, and including a spacer between said opposed end faces to provide a preselected distance between said end faces.

28. The optical power-limiting method of claim 16 , in which said solid mixture is the core material of a waveguide.

29. The optical power-limiting method of claim 28 wherein said optical limiting solid mixture turns permanently opaque when exposed to predetermined powers above a threshold power.