Demonstration of parallel optical data input for arrays of PnpN optical thyristors

Author

Kirk, Andrew ; Thienpont, Hugo ; Baukens, Valeérie ; Debaes, Nathalie ; Gouler, A. ; Heremans, Paul ; Kuijk, Maarten ; Borghs, Gustaaf ; Vounckx, Roger ; Veretennicoff, Irina

Author_Institution

Dept. of Appl. Phys., Vrije Univ., Brussels, Belgium

fYear

1996

fDate

27-29 Oct 1996

Firstpage

360

Lastpage

366

Abstract

To provide parallel optical data input to optical information processing systems a choice must be made between highly parallel modulator arrays and (currently) moderately parallel arrays of active sources. Two technologies are compared for suitability to address arrays of differential pairs of PnpN optical thyristors; these are liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). An 8×8 array of thyristor pairs is addressed optically with a LCD and a single thyristor pair is driven with a VCSEL pair. The trade-offs between speed and parallelism are considered in each case and desirable properties for future devices are determined

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; arrays; electro-optical modulation; electro-optical switches; gallium arsenide; laser cavity resonators; liquid crystal displays; optical computing; parallel architectures; photothyristors; semiconductor laser arrays; surface emitting lasers; GaAs; LCDs; PnpN optical thyristor arrays; VCSELs; active sources; differential pairs; highly parallel modulator arrays; liquid crystal display devices; moderately parallel arrays; optical information processing systems; parallel optical data input; single thyristor pair; vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Information processing; Laser modes; Liquid crystal displays; Optical arrays; Optical devices; Optical modulation; Stimulated emission; Surface emitting lasers; Thyristors; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Massively Parallel Processing Using Optical Interconnections, 1996., Proceedings of the Third International Conference on

Conference_Location

Maui, HI

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7591-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MPPOI.1996.559121

Filename

559121