Abstract

We report the experimental demonstration of a monolithic semiconductor 1:N all-optical signal router or space-division switch which has gain and time-division multiplexing and demultiplexing capability. It has been shown previously that in-plane lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) fabricated in the same epitaxial material exhibit complete gain quenching of the stimulated emission in intracavity-coupled devices¹. Furthermore, when multiple in-plane lasers are coupled to a single output VCSEL, an all-optical NOR gate is formed, and depending on the overlap between the lasers' cavities, optical bistability is also observed².

© 1996 Optical Society of America