MEASUREMENT OF THE VELOCITY OF CURRENT FILAMENTS IN OPTICALLY TRIGGERED HIGH-GAIN GAAS SWITCHES

Authors
LOUBRIEL GM ZUTAVERN FJ HJALMARSON HP GALLEGOS RR HELGESON WD OMALLEY MW
Citation
Gm. Loubriel et al., MEASUREMENT OF THE VELOCITY OF CURRENT FILAMENTS IN OPTICALLY TRIGGERED HIGH-GAIN GAAS SWITCHES, Applied physics letters, 64(24), 1994, pp. 3323-3323
Citations number
11
Categorie Soggetti
Physics, Applied
Journal title
Applied physics letters → ACNP
ISSN journal
00036951
Volume
64
Issue
24
Year of publication
1994
Pages
3323 - 3323
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-6951(1994)64:24<3323:MOTVOC>2.0.ZU;2-#
Abstract
Pictures are presented of the time evolution of current filaments duri ng optically triggered, high gain switching in GaAs. Two filaments are triggered with two laser diode arrays and the time delay between them is varied. When the filament that is triggered first crosses the swit ch the voltage drops and the other filament ceases to grow. By varying the delay between the lasers, the tip velocity is measured to be 2 +/ - 1 x 10(9) cm/s, 100 times larger than the peak drift velocity of car riers in GaAs. This observation supports switching models that rely on carrier generation at the tip of the filament.