Absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers

摘要

Recent progress in the study of both absorptive and dispersive bistability in semiconductor injection lasers is reported. Inhomogeneously excited semiconductor lasers as an absorptive case, and laser diode optical amplifiers and optical injection locking systems of laser diodes as dispersive cases, are described. Applications of bistable semiconductor lasers, such as optical memories, optical regenerative amplifiers and all-optical switching, are also discussed.