Metamorphosis of the transistor into a laser

Based on the invention and operation of the transistor, the alloy diode laser, the quantum-well diode laser and the high-speed heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), we have invented and realized now a transistor laser (TL). The transistor laser is a three-terminal technology providing coupling and the coherent light emission in the transistor. The quantum-well (QW) heterojunction bipolar transistor laser, inherently a fast switching device, operates by transporting a small minority base charge density∼10¹⁶cm ^-3 over a nanoscale base thickness (<900A) in picoseconds. The TL, owing to its fast recombination speed, its unique three-terminal configuration, and complementary nature of its optical and electrical collector output signals, enables resonance-free base current and collector voltage modulation. It is a compact source of electrooptical applications such as nonlinear signal mixing, frequency multiplication, negative feedback, and optoelectronics logic gates.