Semiconductor ring laser

This SRL was shown to have considerable gain and a low threshold pump power, making it a highly efficient laser system.

[2] Maqbool and Main plan to expand their work to include the development of nano scale SRLs on carbon nanotubes.

Due in part to the bistable and highly non-linear nature of the devices, they can be fed a starting signal from either direction.

Other potential applications include "a digital response device that reshapes optical signals that have become distorted, effectively acting as a gate."

It is known as IOLOS, (Integrated optical logic and memory using ultra-fast micro-ring bistable semiconductor laser), and will receive funding of €1.25 million over three years.

Illustration of a Semiconductor Ring Laser (SRL). The laser cavity is a waveguide with a racetrack geometry (but this can also be another geometry), which enables it to lase in two counterpropagating directions: clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW). The light is evanescently coupled out of the cavity to a straight output waveguide.