Optical working memory based on injection lasers

An investigation of the characteristics of metal–insulator–semiconductor–insulator–metal (MISIM) structures demonstrated that they could be employed as reusable information carriers characterized by a fast response and a sensitivity of 10^–6 J/cm². The information was stored on the basis of the capture of nonequilibrium carriers by the energy levels of surface traps. A system comprising GaAs injection lasers and MISIM silicon structures was used as a working memory with a random access to blocks of information. The operating principle of the memory imposed no restrictions on the coherence of the laser radiation.