Abstract

Optical bistable elements may be attractive in all-optical regenerators as an alternative to electronic regenerators¹ provided they are able to handle signals with bit rates in the Gbit/s range. The bistable Fabry-Perot (F.P.) laser amplifier has many desirable properties, e.g., optical gain, room temperature operation,, and low switching energy (fJ).² Bistability at up to 250 Mbit/s has been predicted for antireflection coated laser amplifiers.¹ Here we report measurements of switching times of ~1 ns for a 1.3-μm F.P. laser amplifier, which are verified numerically. For antireflection coated amplifiers, switching times of 230-250 ps, suggesting transmission rates of up to ~2 Gbit/s, are predicted.

© 1990 Optical Society of America