Abstract

Increasing absorption optical and optoelectronic bistability in hybrid thermooptical Si devices (Fig. 1) are studied at 1.06 μm both theoretically and experimentally. The optical nonlinearity of such SEED devices is largely enhanced by the optoelectronically generated electrical power [1,2] and it is shown that the characteristics can easily be controlled by the applied voltage. Additionally, it is found that the external resistance R adds a further nonlinearity. As an important result, two hysteresis cycles can now occur in succeeding regions of the input power (Fig. 2). If R is replaced by a conventional photodetector or a second SEED element, interesting logic operations between two independent optical signals are possible. Au doped samples reveal that the bistability depends on the orientation of the electric field. Since Au traps control also the absorption we conclude finally that the device characteristics can largely be engineered.

© 1988 Optical Society of America