Electrical and optical properties of the three-terminal double-heterostructure optoelectronic switch

Author

Simmons, John G. ; Taylor, G.W.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Eng. Phys., McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ont., Canada

Volume

26

Issue

11

fYear

1990

fDate

11/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1954

Lastpage

1963

Abstract

A theory is developed for the three-terminal version of the double-heterojunction optoelectronic switch (DOES), in which the third terminal, the injector, makes ohmic contact to the active layer of the device. The injector permits the biasing of the active-layer-substrate junction, the effect of which is to reduce the threshold voltage at which switching from the electrical and optical OFF-state to the ON-state occurs. Reverse baising the junction initiates switching from the ON- to the OFF-state. The current and optical output as a function of voltage with the injector current as a parametric variable are plotted in terms of the physical and geometrical properties of the device

Keywords

optical bistability; optical switches; optoelectronic devices; active-layer-substrate junction; biasing; electrical properties; geometrical properties; injector; injector current; ohmic contact; optical properties; parametric variable; theory; third terminal; three-terminal double-heterostructure optoelectronic switch; threshold voltage; Charge carrier processes; Current density; Geometrical optics; Impedance; Nonlinear optics; Optical bistability; Optical devices; Optical switches; P-n junctions; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.62114

Filename

62114