Possibility of constructing optical memory elements from MIS structures based on GaAs

A study was made of the possibility of constructing optical memory elements from GaAs MIS structures. In these elements the data were stored not by the capture of carriers by states in the insulator but by utilizing the finite relaxation time of the nonequilibrium space-charge region. The spectral and time dependences of the contrast of the structures were determined. The investigated structures could store data for ~10 msec. The experimental results indicated that it should be possible to use GaAs MIS structures as immediate-access optical memories.