Excitability and optical pulse generation in semiconductor lasers driven by resonant tunneling diode photo-detectors

We demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, excitable nanosecond optical pulses in optoelectronic integrated circuits operating at telecommunication wavelengths (1550 nm) comprising a nanoscale double barrier quantum well resonant tunneling diode (RTD) photo-detector driving a laser diode (LD)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics express 2013-09, Vol.21 (18), p.20931-20940
Main Authors: Romeira, Bruno, Javaloyes, Julien, Ironside, Charles N, Figueiredo, José M L, Balle, Salvador, Piro, Oreste
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, excitable nanosecond optical pulses in optoelectronic integrated circuits operating at telecommunication wavelengths (1550 nm) comprising a nanoscale double barrier quantum well resonant tunneling diode (RTD) photo-detector driving a laser diode (LD). When perturbed either electrically or optically by an input signal above a certain threshold, the optoelectronic circuit generates short electrical and optical excitable pulses mimicking the spiking behavior of biological neurons. Interestingly, the asymmetric nonlinear characteristic of the RTD-LD allows for two different regimes where one obtain either single pulses or a burst of multiple pulses. The high-speed excitable response capabilities are promising for neurally inspired information applications in photonics.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.21.020931