Laser-controlled optical transconductance varistor system
View Patent ↗An optical transconductance varistor system having a modulated radiation source configured to provide modulated stimulus, a wavelength converter operably connected to the modulated radiation source to produce a modulated stimulus having a predetermined wavelength, and a wide bandgap semiconductor photoconductive material in contact between two electrodes. The photoconductive material is operably coupled, such as by a beam transport module, to receive the modulated stimulus having the predetermined wavelength to control a current flowing through the photoconductive material when a voltage potential is present across the electrodes.
1. An optical transconductance varistor system comprising:
a modulated radiation source configured to provide modulated stimulus;
a wavelength converter operably connected to the modulated radiation source to produce a modulated stimulus having a predetermined wavelength; and
a wide bandgap semiconductor photoconductive material in contact between two electrodes and operably coupled to receive the modulated stimulus having the predetermined wavelength to control a current flowing through the photoconductive material when a voltage potential is present across the electrodes.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined wavelength produced by the wavelength converter corresponds to a bandgap energy of the wide bandgap semiconductor material.
3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a beam pump surrounding the photoconductive material for directing the modulated stimulus into the photoconductive material; and
an optical diffusion element arranged to diffuse/disperse the modulated stimulus prior to entering the beam pump and the photoconductive material.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the optical diffusion element is a tapered light pipe.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the modulated radiation source is a modulated laser.
6. The system of claim 5 ,
wherein the modulated laser is a multi-emitter laser-diode array.
7. The system of claim 6 ,
wherein the multi-emitter laser-diode array is an array of VCSELs.
8. The system of claim 6 ,
wherein the multi-emitter laser-diode array is a double heterostructure laser diode array.
9. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the modulated radiation source is modulated by a modulation source selected from a group consisting of an arbitrary waveform generator and a pulse generator.
10. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the modulated radiation source, the wavelength converter, and the photoconductive material are integrated together on a substrate.