Thermo-optical SEED devices: External control of nonlinearity,bistability and switching behaviour

We discuss novel fundamental properties of thermo-optical SEED devices and present experimental results performed on Si Schottky, diodes where the optoelectronically generated electrical power leads to optical bistability and photonic switching. In particular, it is shown that the external resistance yields an additional nonlinearity which leads to novel properties which result from the external control of the multistable and switching behaviour. As a result, bistable characteristics with negligible hysteresis widths but high contrast ratios, a novel multistability and tunable differential gain can be achieved. Additionally, the temperature range and also the total dissipated power which are necessary for switching the device can significantly be reduced when using the external resistance.