Abstract
We present numerical and experimental results on a number of different all-optical flip-flops which are based on DFB laser diodes or DFB-arrays. All these flip-flop concepts show potential for fast switching with low switching energy and high extinction ratio. They are moreover very robust in the sense that the switching pulses (and the injected CW beam in some cases) can be of arbitrary wavelength and that the bistability characteristics can be tuned by simple variation of the current injected into the devices. Two different designs for all-optical flip-flop operation will be discussed in detail. The first one is a DFB or DBR laser diode coupled to a semiconductor optical amplifier, in which the bidirectional coupling between laser and amplifier causes the bistability. The second concept is based on bistable behaviour in a single AR-coated DFB laser, with low coupling coefficient and in which a CW signal is injected. These all-optical flip-flops can easily be extended to optically switchable multistate devices with any number of stable states. Such multistate devices are briefly discussed at the end.
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