Title :
Fast polarization switching in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser under optical injection
Author :
Pan, George Z. ; Jiang, Shijun ; Dagenais, Mario ; Morgan, Robert A. ; Kojima, Keisuke ; Asom, Moses T. ; Leibenguth, Ronald E. ; Guth, Gregory D. ; Focht, Marlin W.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Maryland Univ., College Park, MD, USA
Abstract :
We report the first observation of bistable polarization switching in a vertical cavity surface-emitting GaAs/AlGaAs laser (VCSEL) under optical injection. Input wavelength dependence of the switching is studied. Polarization switching at frequencies up to 6 GHz is obtained. We believe this polarization switching is achieved through injection locking where both the wavelength and the polarization of the VCSEL are locked by the injected optical signal. Because of the high switching speed and the low switching energy, the polarization bistable switching in VCSELs opens new possibilities in optical storage and the area of smart pixels for optical processing and interconnects
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; optical bistability; optical switches; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; 6 GHz; GaAs-AlGaAs; GaAs/AlGaAs laser; fast polarization switching; injected optical signal; injection locking; input wavelength dependence; optical injection; optical interconnects; optical processing; optical storage; polarization bistable switching; polarization locking; polarization switching; smart pixels; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; wavelength locking; Energy storage; Frequency; Gallium arsenide; Injection-locked oscillators; Optical bistability; Optical interconnections; Optical polarization; Optical surface waves; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Annual Meeting, 1993. LEOS '93 Conference Proceedings. IEEE
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1263-5
DOI :
10.1109/LEOS.1993.379310
