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Excitability in a semiconductor laser with saturable absorber
Sylvain Barbay1, Robert Kuszelewicz, Alejandro M Yacomotti
1Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, LPN-CNRS, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France. sylvain.barbay@lpn.cnrs.fr
Optics Letters
|December 6, 2011
Summary
Compact vertical cavity lasers with saturable absorbers can generate short optical pulses. These pulses, triggered by a threshold input, show potential for all-optical computing and logic gates.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optics
- Semiconductor Devices
Background:
- Vertical cavity lasers are fundamental components in optical systems.
- Saturable absorbers enable advanced laser dynamics and pulse shaping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the generation of short excitable pulses from a monolithic vertical cavity laser.
- To explore the potential of these pulses for all-optical applications.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a compact vertical cavity laser integrated with an intracavity saturable absorber.
- Investigated the laser's response to input perturbations of varying amplitudes.
Main Results:
- The laser successfully emitted short, calibrated excitable optical pulses.
- The pulse emission was triggered by input perturbations exceeding a specific amplitude threshold.
- Observed a subnanosecond excitable response time.
Conclusions:
- Monolithic vertical cavity lasers with saturable absorbers can produce controllable, short optical pulses.
- The excitable pulse dynamics are suitable for developing novel all-optical information processing devices.
- This technology offers a pathway towards advanced all-optical logic gates.
