All-optical hysteresis control by means of cross-phase modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers

We describe the principle of operation of an all-optical flip-flop based on dispersive bistability in a distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifier. Cross-phase modulation controls the photonic bandgap and Bragg resonances of the amplifier, thereby shifting the hysteresis and switching thresholds to higher or lower powers. We give the details of a simple theoretical model that is used to simulate the set and reset operations. We also experimentally investigate the dependence on set-signal power and the response to back-to-back set signals, and we apply the theoretical model to understand these experimental results.

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