Bistable laser diodes and their applications: state of the art
(1997)Abstract
Recent progresses in research on bistable laser diodes and their applications
in optical communications and photonic switching are reviewed. In
addition to the conventional absorptive and dispersive bistable laser
diodes, bistability in two-mode lasers via gain saturation has recently
attracted attention, because of its ultra high speed. On the other
hand, bistable laser diodes with saturable absorbers are mainly used
in the system applications because of their stable operations at
present. This paper presents the theoretical analysis of the two-mode
bistable laser diodes, the stripe lasers and the vertical-cavity
surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) as the two major representatives
of bistable lasers, and the profound discussion of their possible
applications