All-semiconductor miniature nonlinear optical loop mirrors for GHz all-optical switching operation

Summary form only given. Conventionally, a nonlinear Sagnac interferometer consists of an optical fiber loop, connected with a fiber coupler. We report our experimental results of a monolithic all-semiconductor-optical-amplifier nonlinear optical loop device with psec signals. The device includes a circular loop, a multi-mode interference waveguide amplifier (MMIWA, acting as a nonlinear coupler), and input/output ports. All parts of the device are made of GaAs/AlGaAs ridge waveguide semiconductor optical amplifiers. The electropad is divided into four disconnected regions to provide gain separately. Particularly, the loop is divided into two different injection areas to make the loop asymmetric. In our experiments, we used the pulsed signals with a pulse width of 1.4 psec.