Vertical-cavity amplifying photonic switch at 1.5 μm

The development of a fast amplifying switch operating at 1.55-μm wavelength is of particular interest as the active element in optical communication systems. We report the first vertical-cavity amplifying photonic switch (VCAPS) at 1.55-μm wavelength, with a 14-dB gain and 10-ps commutation time. This structure is fabricated by the epitaxial lift-off technique and is composed of a resonant periodic gain multiple quantum wells active layers sandwiched between a SiO2-Au back mirror based on a Si substrate and a Si-SiO2front mirror.