A cascadable binary optical routing switch with improved switching per
formance has been demonstrated by integrating vertical-cavity surface-
emitting lasers with heterojunction bipolar transistors and pin photod
iodes. The reconfigurable routing of optical signals, and their conver
sion between electrical and optical formats, have been achieved at hig
h speed (400-500Mbit/s), and with an optical gain of 7.5dB.