Abstract

We present novel theoretical and experimental results on thermooptical SEED devices, using Si Schottky diodes (Fig. 1) illuminated by a Nd-YAG laser with λ_o = 1.06 µm. Low power bistability and multistability [1] are observed, where the nonlinearity is largely enhanced by the electrical heating [2]. It is shown that the external resistance which controls the electrical power, gives rise to an additional, externally induced nonlinearity. This leads to novel operation characteristics: Bistability with vanishing hysteresis widths but high contrast ratios, characteristics with tunable differential gain and a new kind of multistability with two interlacing hysteresis loops are obtained. Additionally, switching from high to low values of the dissipated powers is observed even with increasing optical input power. The resistance can significantly reduce the temperature range and so the necessary dissipated power. Finally, as the most important result, it is shown for the first time that the additional nonlinearity can be used to switch the device ON and OFF (Fig. 2) by using optical input signals and a constant holding power within the region of bistability. Also NAND operation is demonstrated.

© 1988 Optical Society of America