Optoelectronic device employing at least one semiconductor heterojunction thyristor for producing variable electrical/optical delay

A monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuit comprising:

• a) a substrate;
• b) a first resonant cavity formed on said substrate;
• c) a first diffraction grating formed in said first resonant cavity;
• d) a first heterojunction thyristor device, formed in said first resonant cavity;
• e) first and second passive in-plane waveguides formed on said substrate;
• and
• f) a load FET transistor formed on said substrate;
• wherein said first passive in-plane waveguide guides an input optical pulse to said first heterojunction thyristor device, wherein said first heterojunction thyristor device detects said input optical pulse and produces an output optical pulse via laser emission in response to the detected input optical pulse, wherein said first diffraction grating directs said output optical pulse to said second passive in-plane waveguide for optical communication to other devices, and wherein said load FET transistor provides biasing of said first heterojunction thyristor device.

An optoelectronic integrated circuit comprising:

• a) a substrate;
• b) a resonant cavity formed on said substrate;
• c) a thyristor device, formed in said resonant cavity, that detects a trigger pulse comprising at least one of an input optical pulse and an input electrical pulse and that produces both an output optical pulse via laser emission for output outside said resonant cavity and an output electrical pulse in response to said detected trigger pulse, said thyristor device comprising an anode terminal electrode, a cathode terminal electrode, and at least one control terminal electrode;
• and
• d) delay means for dynamically varying time delay between said trigger pulse and both said output optical pulse and said output electrical pulse, said delay means comprising at least one of:
• i) a current source, operably coupled to said control electrode, that is adapted to provide a varying amount of current to said control electrode;
• and
• ii) means for dynamically modulating intensity of said trigger pulse.