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Reconfigurable optical switches with monolithic electrical-to-optical interfaces

Zolper, I.C.

Vertical-cavity surfaeeniitting lasers (VCSELs) can be integrated with heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs)and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) on the same wafer to form high speed optical and optoelectronic switches,respectively, that can be optically or electrically addressed. This permits the direct communcication and transmission ofdata between distributed electronic processors through an optical switching network. The experimental demonstration of anintegrated optoelectronic HBT/VCSEL switch combining a GaAs/A1GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) with aVCSEL is described below, using the same epilayer structure upon which binary HPT/VCSEL optical switches are alsobuilt. The monolithic }IBT/VCSEL switch has high current gain, low power dissipation, and a high optical to electricalconversion efficiency. Its modulation response has been measured and modeled.