Cavity length limitation of the cross-coupled mode bistability in a semiconductor laser

One of the interesting features in a semiconductor laser with two closely arranged waveguides is the crosscoupled-mode operation, where the light is coupled from one waveguide to the other resulting in an asymmetric output. In the operation, the laser has bistable characteristic which is similar to a set-reset flip-flop in electronics, and hence, useful for optical switching and logic operations. The characteristic has so far been observed with around 500-micrometer long twin-stripe lasers, which is rather long from the viewpoint of integration. Here, the means for shortening the laser is proposed, the theoretical limit of shortening the cavity of AlGaAs lasers is derived, and practical issues for shortening the laser cavity are discussed.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.