A 2 Kbit Array of Symmetric Self-Electro-optic Effect Devices.

We have built and tested a 64 by 32 array of symmetric self electro-optic effect devices, each of which can be operated as a memory element or logic gate. The required optical switching energies of the devices were approximately 800 fJ and 2.5 pJ at 6 and 15 volts bias respectively, and the fastest switching time that we measured was 1 ns. Either state of the devices could be held with continuous or pulsed incident optical signals with average optical incident power per input beam of 200 nW or less than 1 mW for the entire array. Photocurrent and reflectivity were measured for all 2048 devices and only one device failed to have negative resistance required for bistability, and only 9 of the devices fell outside a band of plus and minus 20% of the mean. Additionally, over two hundred devices in the array were operated in parallel using low power semiconductor laser diodes.