All-optical flip-flop multimode interference bistable laser diode

Author

Takenaka, Mitsuru ; Raburn, Maura ; Nakano, Yoshiaki

Author_Institution

Res. Center for Adv. Sci. & Technol., Univ. of Tokyo, Japan

Volume

17

Issue

5

fYear

2005

fDate

5/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

968

Lastpage

970

Abstract

All-optical flip-flop operation of multimode interference bistable laser diodes (MMI-BLDs) was experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The MMI-BLD was prepared with a conventional ridge waveguide laser diode fabrication procedure, suitable for photonic integrated circuits. Bistable switching via two-mode bistability was obtained with approximately 0-dBm input powers due to cross-gain saturation and the saturable absorbers. Bit-length conversion was successfully obtained with noninverted and inverted outputs. This device will be useful in future photonic systems requiring all-optical latching functions such as optical memory, self-routing, and further optical signal processing.

Keywords

flip-flops; integrated optics; optical bistability; optical saturable absorption; optical storage; optical switches; semiconductor lasers; waveguide lasers; all-optical flip-flop operation; all-optical latching functions; bistable laser diode; bistable switching; bit-length conversion; cross-gain saturation; laser diode fabrication; multimode interference laser diode; optical memory; optical signal processing; photonic integrated circuits; photonic systems; ridge waveguide laser diode; saturable absorbers; self-routing; two-mode bistability; Diode lasers; Flip-flops; Interference; Optical bistability; Optical device fabrication; Optical devices; Optical saturation; Optical signal processing; Optical waveguides; Photonic integrated circuits; Bistable laser diode (BLD); bit-length conversion; flip-flop; gain saturation; multimode interference (MMI) coupler; optical memory; two-mode bistability;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2005.844322

Filename

1424069