Static and dynamic analysis of an all-optical inverter based on a Vertical Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (VCSOA)

We report the static and dynamic properties of an all-optical inverter based on an 850 nm Vertical Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (VCSOA). The inverter exhibits low switching power requirements (~ 15 μW), large on/off contrast ratio (> 11 dB), and high speed operation (~ 1.4 GHz). Large and small signal measurements show that the speed of operation and the on/off contrast ratio improve with increased bias current. This holds important prospects for the development of VCSOA-inverters for high-speed, low-power optical logic applications. Finally, a theoretical model of the VCSOA-inverter has been employed giving good agreement with experiments.

Research Highlights
► We report the static and dynamic properties of an 850 nm VCSOA all-optical inverter.
► Inverter has low switching power (~ 15 μW) and large on/off contrast ratio (> 11 dB).
► Inverter has high speed operation (~ 1.4 GHz).
► Speed of operation and on/off contrast ratio improve with increased bias current.
► Theoretical model of VCSOA inverter shows good agreement with experiments.