Abstract
Our cascadable optical switch is based on the integration of a heterojunction phototransistor (HPT) with a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diode. We report high optical gain (>20 overall, >200 differential) and contrast (>2780, 34 dB). Our basic "unit cell," a surface-emitting laser logic (CELL) device, consists of a photodetector with electrical gain and a low-threshold VCSEL (Fig. 1). In the CELLs basic operation, incident light generates photocurrent in the detector element; this light is internally amplified and then used to drive the laser element above threshold. This optical-electrical-optical conversion results in inputs insensitive to optical feedback.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
G. R. Olbright, R. P. Bryan, T. M. Brennan, K. Lear, G. E. Poirier, W. S. Fu, J. L. Jewell, and Y. H. Lee
ThC3 Photonic Switching (PS) 1991
Julian Cheng, G. R. Olbright, and R. P. Bryan
MA3 Optical Computing (IP) 1991
R. P. Bryan, G. R. Olbright, T. M. Brennan, W. S. Fu, and J. Y. Tsao
ThH3 OSA Annual Meeting (FIO) 1991