New scheme of digital optical switching and memory operation utilizing the mode-hopping phenomenon in semiconductor lasers

A new scheme of digital optical switching, optical analog-to-digital conversion, and wavelength bistability is presented which can be applied to digital optical, memory operations, utilizing the mode-hopping phenomenon of Fabry-Perot cavity-type injection laser diode. The measured speed of switching was within the nsec region, which was limited by the driving capabilities and the light detection response, not by the phenomenon itself.