Abstract

Major progress has been made in the processing of optical signals in recent years, due to the development of high-quality epitaxial Fabry-Perot (FP) structures with multiple quantum wells active medium sandwiched between Bragg reflector mirrors. A wide range of innovative use has been made of these structures.¹ We have recently demonstrated² a fast vertical cavity amplifying photonic switch (VCAPS), which might overcome the problem of losses likely to be encountered in cascading different functions for achieving active optical interconnects. Here we show a dramatically improved performance of the VCAPS with 30 dB gain with switching times better than 20 ps in a GaAs-based structure operating at 847 nm. We also show that the amplification configuration is a powerful method for studying carrier induced refractive changes.

© 1994 IEEE