Room-temperature optically triggered bistability in twin-stripe lasers

Room-temperature optically triggered bistability in semiconductor lasers is reported for the first time. The optically bistable element consists of a twin-stripe laser. The bistable `switch-on¿ and `switch-off¿ are achieved by injecting light from two other twin-stripe lasers. By using twin-stripe lasers to provide the triggering pulses, no temperature control is required to match the lasing wavelengths. The optical bistability appears to be stable for at least as long as 300 ns, this time being the longest current bias pulse used by the authors.