The University of British Columbia

The feasibility of an integrated optical memory is explored. This memory cell is based on the plasma wave modulator/switch(1), which has a horizontal layered structure. A transverse voltage maintains a bias for the structure and can be used for electrical write cycle. The cell content is then read by a propagating guided optical wave across the structure. It is also possible to apply full optical read/write/clear cycles as discussed. The read cycle can be either destructive or nondestructive, depending on the wavelength. A modification of this device may be considered as an opto-transistor, in which an optical signal controls the flow of another optical beam.