Bistable laser diodes and their applications: state of the art

Author

Kawaguchi, Hitoshi

Author_Institution

Fac. of Eng., Yamagata Univ., Japan

Volume

3

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

10/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1254

Lastpage

1270

Abstract

Recent progresses in research on bistable laser diodes and their applications in optical communications and photonic switching are reviewed. In addition to the conventional absorptive and dispersive bistable laser diodes, bistability in two-mode lasers via gain saturation has recently attracted attention, because of its ultra high speed. On the other hand, bistable laser diodes with saturable absorbers are mainly used in the system applications because of their stable operations at present. This paper presents the theoretical analysis of the two-mode bistable laser diodes, the stripe lasers and the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) as the two major representatives of bistable lasers, and the profound discussion of their possible applications

Keywords

electro-optical switches; high-speed optical techniques; laser beam applications; laser cavity resonators; laser modes; laser theory; optical bistability; optical communication equipment; optical dispersion; optical saturable absorption; semiconductor device models; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; VCSEL; absorptive bistable laser diodes; bistable laser diodes; dispersive bistable laser diodes; gain saturation; optical communications; photonic switching; review; saturable absorbers; stable operations; stripe lasers; system applications; two-mode bistable laser diode; two-mode lasers; ultra high speed; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers; Diode lasers; High speed optical techniques; Nonlinear optics; Optical bistability; Optical polarization; Optical saturation; Repeaters; Semiconductor lasers; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/2944.658606

Filename

658606