Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Optical switching system and method

Patent ·
OSTI ID:868199
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. N. Tonawanda, NY
  2. Engadine, AU
  3. Salt Lake City, UT
+ Show Author Affiliations
An optically bistable device is disclosed. The device includes a uniformly thick layer of amorphous silicon to constitute a Fabry-Perot chamber positioned to provide a target area for a probe beam. The probe beam has a maximum energy less than the energy band gap of the amorphous semiconductor. In a preferred embodiment, a multilayer dielectric mirror is positioned on the Fabry-Perot chamber to increase the finesse of switching of the device. The index of refraction of the amorphous material is thermally altered to alter the transmission of the probe beam.
Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Institute
Assignee:
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
Patent Number(s):
US 5097357
OSTI ID:
868199
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Thermal modulation of the optical properties of amorphous semiconducting films journal June 1988
Optical bistability, photonic logic, and optical computation journal January 1986
Refractive Fabry-Perot bistability with linear absorption: Theory of operation and cavity optimization journal March 1981
Chapter 3 Optical Properties of Defect States in a-Si: H book January 1984
Optical bistability observed in amorphous semiconductor films journal April 1983
The temperature dependence of the refractive index of hydrogenated amorphous silicon and implications for electroreflectance experiments journal January 1980

Similar Records

Refractive index and absorption detector for liquid chromatography based on Fabry-Perot interferometry
Patent · 1984 · OSTI ID:7148107
Theory of bistability in nonlinear distributed feedback structures
Journal Article · 1979 · Appl. Phys. Lett.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6387569
Dynamics of optically switched bistable diode laser amplifiers
Journal Article · 1987 · IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6867664

Related Subjects

/359/257/
alter
altered
amorphous
amorphous material
amorphous semiconductor
amorphous silicon
band
band gap
beam
bistable
chamber
constitute
device
dielectric
dielectric mirror
disclosed
embodiment
energy
energy band
fabry-perot
finesse
gap
increase
index
layer
material
maximum
maximum energy
method
mirror
multilayer
multilayer dielectric
optical
optical switch
optical switching
optically
positioned
preferred
preferred embodiment
probe
probe beam
provide
refraction
semiconductor
silicon
switching
target
thermally
thick
thick layer
transmission
uniformly