SURFACE EMITTING LASER AND ASYMMETRIC FABRY-PEROT MODULATOR ARRAYS

THIS PROPOSAL EXPLORES THE USE OF SURFACE EMITTING LASER (SEL) ARRAYS IN CONJUNCTION WITH SURFACE NORMAL ASYMMETRIC FABRY-PEROT MODULATORS AND INTEGRATED PHOTODETECTORS FOR APPLICATION IN OPTICAL COMPUTING AND OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESING. SURFACE EMITTING LASERS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN DEVELOPED AT UC SANTA BARBARA WITH SUBMILLIAMPERE THRESHOLDS AND VERY HIGH MODULATION RATE CAPABILITY. THE LOW THRESHOLD AND HIGH OPERATING EFFICIENCY MAKE THESE LASERS IDEAL FOR ARRAY APPLICATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH ASYMMETRIC FABRY-PEROT SURFACE NORMAL REFLECTION MODULATORS. UP TO THIS TIME, HIGH SPEED, SURFACE EMITTING LASER ARRAYS HAVE NOT BEEN TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH IS TO DESIGN AND EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF SEL ARRAYS. BECAUSE OF THE LOW VOLTAGE AND LOW CAPACITANCE OF THESE SELS, THEY ARE CAPABLE OF OPERATING AT VERY HIGH SPEEDS, ESTIMATED TO BE 30 GHZ OR GREATER. BY COMBINING THE SELS WITH ASFP MODULATOR ARRAYS (WHICH CAN ALSO FUNCTION AS DETECTOR ARRAYS, AND AS OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS), POWERFUL OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS ARE POSSIBLE, WITH MULTICHANNEL, MULTI-GHZ PERFORMANCE AT MODEST POWER AND STRAIGHTFORWARD OPTICAL INTERFACES. COMMERCIAL AND MILITARY APPLICATIONS INCLUDE HIGH BANDWIDTH, MULTI-CHANNEL OPTICAL TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER SYSTEMS, RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS, OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND OPTICAL COMPUTING.