Dynamic behavior of an all-optical inverter using transverse-mode switching in 1.55-μm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

An all-optical inverter using transverse-mode switching of a 1.55-μm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is demonstrated. When an external light is injected to a first high-order mode, the output power of the fundamental mode is strongly suppressed due to injection locking resulting in a large extinction ratio of over 20 dB. Waveform inversion is demonstrated for the input signal of a 5-GHz sinusoidal wave.