Cascadable all-optical inverter based on a nonlinear vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier

Haijiang Zhang, Pengyue Wen, Sadik Esener

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, the operation of a cascadable, low-optical-switching-power (∼10 μW) small-area (∼100 μn2) high-speed (80 ps fall time) all-optical inverter. This inverter employs cross-gain modulation, polarization gain anisotropy, and highly nonlinear gain characteristics of an electrically pumped vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (VCSOA). The measured transfer characteristics of such an optical inverter resemble those of standard electronic metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor-based inverters exhibiting high noise margin and high extinction ratio (∼9.3 dB), making VCSOAs an ideal building block for all-optical logic and memory.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1884-1886
Number of pages3
JournalOptics Letters
Volume32
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2007
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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