Optical switching in the twin-guide Fabry-Perot laser amplifier

A recently developed theory of the twin-guide Fabry-Perot laser amplifier has been extended to include the case of optically induced switching. The effect of feedback from the facets serves to dramatically decrease the optical power required for switching as compared to that for a traveling-wave amplifier, but at the expense of accurate control of input wavelength. Switching is predicted at input powers on the order of microwatts, in good agreement with a first experimental demonstration of the effect.<
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