All-optical flip-flop based on hybrid square-rectangular bistable lasers

Ma, Xiu-Wen; Huang, Yong-Zhen; Yang, Yue-De; Weng, Hai-Zhong; Wang, Fuli; Tang, Min; Xiao, Jin-Long; Du, Yan

doi:10.1364/ol.42.002291

Cited by 31 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Besides the semiconductor laser with a single square cavity, the twinsquare coupled microcavity laser was demonstrated for the enhancement of modulation bandwidth due to the photonphoton resonance effect, [67] and the square-rectangular coupled cavity laser was demonstrated for single-mode lasing with tunable wavelength [68] and high-speed flip-flop. [69] We believe that the performance of square microcavity semiconductor lasers can be further improved, and then practical application can be realized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Square microcavity semiconductor lasers

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Square microcavities, which support whispering-gallery modes with total internal reflections, can be employed as high-quality laser resonators for fabricating compact, low-threshold semiconductor lasers. In this paper, we review the recent progress of square microcavity semiconductor lasers. The characteristics of confined optical modes in the square microcavities are introduced briefly. Based on the mode properties of the square microcavities, dual-mode lasers with tunable wavelength intervals are realized for generating microwave signals. Furthermore, deformed square microcavity lasers with the sidewalls replaced by circular sides are proposed and experimentally demonstrated to enhance the mode confinement and increase the dual-mode interval to the THz range. In order to further reduce the device size, metal-confined wavelength-scale square cavity lasers are also demonstrated.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Square microcavity semiconductor lasers

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…10 ranges from 0.1 to 2.0 ns. Although it is not so fast compared with the experimentally demonstrated switching time in [10], it is expected to be improved by optimizing the Q factor of the MRR and injection light power. The device can be operated at −14.5 dB (approximately 0.035 mW), as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Conditions For Switching Between Inverter and Flip-flop Oper...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the switching time during the light injection is assumed to be 0.55 ns, the switching energy is evaluated to be approximately 19 fJ. The evaluated switching energy is comparable to that in [10].…”

Section: Conditions For Switching Between Inverter and Flip-flop Oper...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, most flip-flop devices are not usable for cascaded layouts for all-optical signal processing because they are based on the spatial switching of light output. Although a cascadable flip-flop using a distributed feedback laser diode (DFB-LD) [10] has also been reported, the wavelength of output light is limited to a single one. Verticalcavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based all-optical inverters and flip-flops using their transverse mode switching [11][12][13] and polarization switching [14,15], respectively, have also been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Switchable All-Optical Flip-Flop and Inverter Operations in Quantum Well Microring Laser

Aoki

Yamauchi

Kobayashi

et al. 2020

J. Lightwave Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We experimentally demonstrate all-optical flip-flop and inverter operations using two adjacent lasing wavelengths in a quantum-well microring laser, and that the state is switched between the flip-flop and inverter operations by changing the phase in the outer cavity composed of busline waveguides. We also propose multimodal rate equations for a microring laser taking into account clockwise and counter-clockwise light propagations. By comparing experimental results and simulated results based on the rate equations, the principle of the switching between the flipflop and inverter operations is clarified.

show abstract

“…Bifurcations have previously been investigated extensively in laser physics; they underlie the operation of bistable lasers, which have applications as optical "flipflop" memory devices [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. Typically, they result from the inclusion of two different nonlinearities in a single laser, such as a saturable gain medium and a saturable absorber [33,34,41,42], or two polarization modes experiencing different gain saturation [35,36,38,40].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-mode bifurcations induced by PT -breaking exceptional points

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A laser consisting of two independently-pumped resonators can exhibit mode bifurcations that evolve out of the exceptional points (EPs) of the linear system at threshold. The EPs are non-Hermitian degeneracies occurring at the parity/time-reversal (PT ) symmetry breaking points of the threshold system. Above threshold, the EPs become bifurcations of the nonlinear zero-detuned laser modes, which can be most easily observed by making the gain saturation intensities in the two resonators substantially different. Small pump variations can then switch abruptly between different laser behaviors, e.g. between below-threshold and PT -broken single-mode operation.Introduction.-Non-Hermitian effects have been the subject of strong and sustained attention in optics and related fields, driven largely by the rise of parity/timereversal (PT ) symmetric photonics [1-3]. Following early proposals to utilize PT symmetry for unidirectional invisibility cloaks [4,5], laser-absorbers [6-8], etc., much recent progress has been based on the complex interactions between PT symmetry breaking and nonlinearity [9][10][11][12][13].Recent prominent experiments exploring this direction have demonstrated efficient optical isolation [14-16], robust wireless power transfer [17], and the stabilization of single-mode lasing in microcavity lasers [18][19][20][21].Lasers provide a compelling setting for such investigations, as they are intrinsically both non-Hermitian (due to gain and outcoupling loss), and nonlinear when operating above threshold (due to gain saturation). Although these features have long been known, the recent interest in non-Hermitian physics has provided fresh inspiration for devising lasers with novel characteristics. Several authors have drawn special attention to the peculiar effects of exceptional points (EPs)-points in parameter space where a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian becomes defective and two (or more) eigenvectors coalesce [22,23]. PT symmetry provides a convenient, though not exclusive, way to generate EPs: whenever PT symmetry spontaneously breaks, there is an EP at the transition point [24]. The presence of an EP among the non-Hermitian eigenmodes of a laser has been shown to give rise to pumpinduced suppression and revival of lasing [26][27][28], though these works regarded the EP as "accidental", not arising from PT symmetry breaking. EPs have also been shown to promote single-mode operation in dark state lasers [29,30] and PT -symmetric lasers [18,31].In this paper, we show that EPs associated with PT symmetry breaking in a laser at threshold can generate bifurcations in the nonlinear laser modes above threshold. The bifurcations appear as discontinuities in the laser's I-V curve (i.e., the dependence of output

show abstract

All-optical flip-flop based on hybrid square-rectangular bistable lasers

Cited by 31 publications

References 28 publications

Square microcavity semiconductor lasers

Square microcavity semiconductor lasers

Switchable All-Optical Flip-Flop and Inverter Operations in Quantum Well Microring Laser

Laser-mode bifurcations induced by PT -breaking exceptional points

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About