Assessment of switching speed of optical bistability in semiconductor laser amplifiers

Abstract

Measured hysteresis characteristics are presented for a bistable Fabry-Perot laser amplifier operating at high switching rates. The results show that optical bistability ceases to be evident at a repetition frequency of around 250 MHz, corresponding to a data rate of 500 Mbit/s, which indicates switching times commensurate with the carrier recombination time.