Optoelectronic integration of optical switching devices for telecommunications

Abstract

The effective exploitation of fibre optics throughout the telecommunications network will demand components which can perform signal routing and control functions in the optical domain under electronic control. In many applications the optical switching elements themselves must be accompanied by high speed electronics and by monitoring photoreceivers to provide for feedback control and self-routing of signals. Cost and reliability considerations point strongly towards the monolithic integration of these functions in an appropriate optoelectronic integrated circuit technology. In this paper we discuss recent progress in our laboratory towards the integration of the three functions discussed above. Experimental data are presented on the performance of optical switching devices, detectors and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's) designed specifically for monolithic integration in the InP/InGaAsP material system.