Numerical simulation of a dual-branch laser/amplifier switch based on a thyristor-like structure

We present stationary simulations of a dual-branch heterostructure laser/optical-amplifier switch. The simulations of the thyristor-like structure show that the state of each anode branch can be maintained and controlled by small gate currents between ON and OFF. The switching approach employed here exhibits an extinction ratio of about 30 dB between the ON- and OFF-branch currents, with nearly symmetric rise and fall times of 5.1 and 6.1 ns, respectively. The device can be utilized as either a dual-branch laser or as an optical-amplifier space-division switch, e.g., in 2/spl times/2 switch matrices.