Optical switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018006645-A1
Application number	US-201715625018-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 16, 2017
Priority date	Jun 30, 2016
Publication date	Jan 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical switch includes: a photothyristor that is switched from an off state to an on state by incident light; a light-emitting element that emits outgoing light when the photothyristor is in the on state; and a tunnel junction layer or a III-V compound layer having metallic conductivity. The tunnel junction layer or the III-V compound layer is disposed between the photothyristor and the light-emitting element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An optical switch comprising:
a photothyristor that is switched from an off state to an on state by incident light; a light-emitting element that emits outgoing light when the photothyristor is in the on state; and a tunnel junction layer or a III-V compound layer having metallic conductivity, the tunnel junction layer or the III-V compound layer being disposed between the photothyristor and the light-emitting element.

2 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the photothyristor includes a gate layer and a control electrode disposed on the gate layer.

3 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element includes a semiconductor layer, and the photothyristor includes a voltage reduction layer having a smaller band gap energy than the semiconductor layer of the light-emitting element.

4 . The optical switch according to claim 2 , wherein the light-emitting element includes a semiconductor layer, and the photothyristor includes a voltage reduction layer having a smaller band gap energy than the semiconductor layer of the light-emitting element.

5 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element has a confined current path.

6 . The optical switch according to claim 2 , wherein the light-emitting element has a confined current path.

7 . The optical switch according to claim 3 , wherein the light-emitting element has a confined current path.

8 . The optical switch according to claim 4 , wherein the light-emitting element has a confined current path.

9 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

10 . The optical switch according to claim 2 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

11 . The optical switch according to claim 3 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

12 . The optical switch according to claim 4 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

13 . The optical switch according to claim 5 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

14 . The optical switch according to claim 6 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

15 . The optical switch according to claim 7 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

16 . The optical switch according to claim 8 , wherein the photothyristor has an opening that is provided in a path through which the outgoing light from the light-emitting element is outputted.

17 . The optical switch according to claim 9 , wherein the opening of the photothyristor has a side wall that is inclined to receive the incident light.

18 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the photothyristor has a surface that receives the incident light, the photothyristor including an electrode formed on the surface, the surface having a portion that is not covered with the electrode.

19 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element includes a light-emitting layer, and the optical switch further comprises a distributed Bragg reflector layer that faces the light-emitting layer of the light-emitting element.

20 . The optical switch according to claim 1 , wherein, when the photothyristor is in the off state, a bias voltage is applied to the light-emitting element, the bias voltage maintaining a state in which light is outputted from the light-emitting element, the amount of the light being smaller than the amount of the outgoing light.

Assignees

• Fuji Xerox Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kondo Takashi

Classifications

• H03K17/79 Primary

  controlling {bipolar} semiconductor switches with more than two PN-junctions, or more than three electrodes, or more than one electrode connected to the same conductivity region · CPC title

• H01L31/125

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F55/18

  wherein the radiation-sensitive semiconductor devices and the electric light source share a common body having dual-functionality of light emission and light detection · CPC title

• H10F30/263

  Photothyristors · CPC title