Semiconductor optical bistability and switching

Rongqing Hui

Static and dynamic properties of dispersive optical bistability (OB) in semiconductor lasers biased from below to above threshold has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The OB result is found to be varied continuously from below to above threshold. Although conventionally the OB switch-off time in dispersive semiconductor laser amplifiers is limited by the effective carrier lifetime, a much faster OB switch-off can be obtained when a laser diode operates well above threshold in the injection-locked condition.>

David A. B. Miller

John Gerard McInerney, Yuan Li, Theodore C. Salvi +1 more

Bistable optical devices (BODs) are interesting for optical switching, limiting, memory, signal conditioning and logic [1]. Semiconductor-based BODs are especially promising because their large nonlinearities should permit development of compact, rugged and efficient systems. Here we concentrate on active semiconductor BODs and switches, that is those which have internal gain, such as injection lasers and amplifiers.

Chi C. Sung, C. M. Bowden

В. С. Днепровский

Antonio Hurtado, Ian D. Henning, M.J. Adams

We report experimental measurements of Optical Bistability (OB) and nonlinear switching in a 1550 nm-Vertical-Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (VCSOA) operated in reflection and biased below and above its threshold current. Two different types of OB and nonlinear switching, anticlockwise and clockwise, have been observed in both the optical power and wavelength domain. The influence of important parameters including the bias current, the initial wavelength detuning and the optical input power has also been studied. The existence of diverse forms of OB and nonlinear switching in a VCSOA operated in reflection opens the door for the development of inverting and non-inverting logic gates, using, respectively, the anticlockwise or the clockwise nonlinear switching transitions appearing in the VCSOA under external optical injection.