Cascadable, latching photonic switch with high optical gain by the monolithic integration of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser and a pn-pn photothyristor

The authors report the first demonstration of a cascadable, photonic switch based on the monolithic integration of a multi-quantum-well vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and a latching pn-pn photothyristor grown by low-pressure metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (LP-MOCVD). The VCSEL and pn-pn photothyristor structures can be independently optimized for optical switching, logic, and memory functions. Optical switching with high gain (30000), high contrast (30 dB), low switching power (11 nW), and latching memory have been demonstrated. The integrated pn-pn/VCSEL switch not only represents a volatile optical memory, but also can be used to implement a new class of optical logic gates with latching logic outputs.>