VERTICAL-CAVITY AMPLIFYING PHOTONIC SWITCH AT 1.5-MU-M

The development of fast amplifying switch operating at 1.55-mu m wavel ength is of particular interest as active element in optical communica tion systems. We report the first vertical-cavity amplifying photonic switch (VCAPS) at 1.55-mu m wavelength, with a 14-dB gain and 10-ps co mmutation time, This structure is fabricated by the epitaxial lift-off technique and is composed of a resonant periodic gain multiple quantu m wells active layers sandwiched between a SiO2-Au back mirror based o n Si substrate and a Si-SiO2 front mirror.