| As the information revolution unfolds, there is an explosive growth in transmission bandwidth requirement. It is in turn spurring research efforts around the world to develop new technologies to handle the bandwidth required by the burgeoning multimedia services. Electronic switching systems will be insufficient to handle the huge information flux of future video-based information services, which is why researchers around the world have been actively investigating photonic switching, processing, and control technologies. Photonic technology is widely recognized as the ultimate solution to the communication bandwidth needs of future generations of communications networks. This thesis is part of this global effort. We focus on a particularly promising optical memory device, the two-mode optical flip-flop, which could be a fundamental building block of future switching systems. The operating principles of the flip-flop are laser gain-quenching and saturable absorption. The device can be readily integrated with other photonic circuit elements.;We have explored ways to add new functionality to photonic integrated circuits through the use of dry-etched laser facets and waveguides. Research was conducted to improve the existing fabrication process for semiconductor laser devices. A streamlined high-performance fabrication process was obtained. Next, we present a theoretical and experimental study of the tapered waveguide amplifier structure in the two-mode bistable laser. This study may lead to a new class of optical bistability. Finally we describe a detailed investigation of the corner reflector array laser, in which the diffraction principle is demonstrated to be an important and pervasive concept in the design of unguided photonic integrated circuits.;The new corner reflector array laser design and the enhanced microfabrication process have led to tremendous improvements in the performance of the two-mode optical flip-flop. Room temperature, CW operation of such a flip-flop was demonstrated successfully for the first time. The working current was reduced by a factor of 4, working temperature was raised by a factor of 4, the operating mode was continuous instead of pulsed, and a larger ON/OFF ratio was obtained. |
