University of Connecticut

Opel, Inc.

Rohinton Dehmubed

Geoff W Taylor

Daniel C Upp

Jianhong Cai

An integrated circuit (and optical transceiver module) includes an optoelectronic thyristor device formed within a resonant cavity on a substrate, and circuitry integrally formed on the substrate that dynamically switches the thyristor between a transmit mode configuration and a receive mode configuration. In the transmit mode configuration, the thyristor is modulated between a non-lasing state and a lasing state in accordance with an input digital electrical signal. In the receive mode configuration, the thyristor device is modulated between a non-lasing OFF state and a non-lasing ON state in accordance with an input digital optical signal that is injected into the resonant cavity to thereby produce an output digital electrical data signal that corresponds to the input digital optical signal. The integrated circuit (and optical transceiver module) can be used in optical fiber applications as well as free-space applications.

Multifunctional optoelectronic thyristor and integrated circuit and optical transceiver employing same

An optoelectronic pulse generator is provided that includes a thyristor detector/emitter device having an input port and an output port. The thyristor detector/emitter device is adapted to detect an input optical pulse supplied to the input port and to produce an output optical pulse (via laser emission) and an output electrical pulse in response to the detected input optical pulse. The output optical pulse is output via the output port. An optical feedback path is operably coupled between the output port and the input port of the thyristor detector/emitter device. The optical feedback path supplies a portion of the output optical pulse produced by the thyristor detector/emitter device to the input port, thereby causing the thyristor detector/emitter device to produce a sequence of output optical pulses and a corresponding sequence of output electrical pulses. Preferably, the optical feedback path comprises a programmable optical delay line realized by a network of in-plane waveguide structures and directional coupler devices that are integrally formed with the thyristor device structure of the detector/emitter device.

Optoelectronic clock generator producing high frequency optoelectronic pulse trains with variable frequency and variable duty cycle and low jitter

An optoelectronic integrated circuit includes a resonant cavity formed on a substrate. A heterojunction thyristor device is formed in the resonant cavity and operates to detect an input optical pulse (or input electrical pulse) and produce an output optical pulse via laser emission in response to the detected input pulse. The heterojunction thyristor device includes a channel region that is coupled to a current source that draws current from the channel region. Time delay between the input pulse and output optical pulse may be varied by configuring the current source to draw constant current from the channel region and modulating the intensity of the input pulse, or by varying the amount of current drawn from the channel region by the current source. The heterojunction thyristor device may be formed from a multilayer structure of group III-V materials, or from a multilayer structure of strained silicon materials. A plurality of such heterojunction thyristor based optoelectronic integrated circuits can be used to provide variable pulse delay over a plurality of channels. In addition, the heterojunction thyristor device is easily integrated with other optoelectronic devices formed from the same growth structure to form monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits suitable for many diverse applications, including phased array communication systems.

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Hamden, CT, United States of America

Rohinton Dehmubed