Optical signal amplification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9601902-B2
Application number	US-201414307057-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2014
Priority date	Aug 31, 2010
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A method of optical signal amplification. Incident photons are received at a photodetector including a doped semiconductor biased by a power source. The photons generate a change in a reflective property, refractive index, or electrical conductivity of the doped semiconductor. For the change in reflective property or refractive index, a first optical signal is reflected off the photodetector to provide a reflected beam, or the photodetector includes a reverse biased semiconductor junction including the doped semiconductor within a laser resonator including a laser medium, wherein a second optical signal is emitted. For the change in electrical conductivity the photodetector includes a reversed biased semiconductor junction that is within an electrical circuit along with an electrically driven light emitting device, where a drive current provided to the light emitting device increases as the electrical conductivity of the photodetector decreases, and the light emitting device emits a third optical signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of optical signal amplification, comprising:
receiving incident photons at a first surface of a photodetector that includes at least a first doped semiconductor which is biased by a power source, wherein said incident photons are in a wavelength range which generates a change in a reflective property of said first doped semiconductor and
reflecting a first optical signal off said photodetector to provide a reflected beam, or said photodetector includes a semiconductor junction including said first doped semiconductor and a second doped semiconductor, said semiconductor junction being reverse biased by said power source to provide a reversed biased semiconductor junction that is within a laser resonator including a laser medium, wherein a second optical signal is emitted from said laser resonator.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting said reflected beam or said second optical signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first optical signal comprises a laser beam.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said photodetector is within a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL).

5. An optical signal amplifying system, comprising:
a photodetector that includes at least a first doped semiconductor which is biased by a power source, wherein incident photons in a wavelength range which generates a change in a reflective property of said first doped semiconductor are received at said first doped semiconductor and
a light source aligned to reflect a first optical signal from off said photodetector to provide a reflected beam, or said photodetector includes a semiconductor junction including said first doped semiconductor and a second doped semiconductor, said power source reverse biasing said semiconductor junction to provide a reversed biased semiconductor junction that is within a laser resonator including a laser medium, wherein a second optical signal is emitted from said laser resonator.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising a detector for detecting said reflected beam or said second optical signal.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein said first optical signal comprises a laser beam from a laser source.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein said photodetector is within a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL).

Assignees

• Univ Central Florida Res Found Inc
• USA

Inventors

• Kar Aravinda
• Manzur Tariq

Classifications

• H10P34/42

  with electromagnetic radiation, e.g. laser annealing (laser cutting H10P54/20) · CPC title

• H10P32/174

  being Group III-V material · CPC title

• H10P32/171

  being group IV material · CPC title

• H10P32/12

  between a solid phase and a gaseous phase · CPC title

• B82Y20/00 Primary

  Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals · CPC title