All-optical transistor using a photonic-crystal cavity with an active Raman gain medium

We propose a design of an all-optical transistor based on a one-dimensional photonic-crystal cavity doped with a four-level N-type active Raman gain medium. The calculated results show that in a photonic-crystal cavity of this kind transmission and reflection of the probe (Raman) beam are strongly dependent on the optical switching power. Transmission and reflection of the probe beam can be greatly amplified or attenuated. Therefore the optical switching field can serve as a gate field of the transistor to effectively control propagation of the weak probe field. It is shown that the group velocity of the probe pulse can be controlled in the range from subluminal (slow light) to superluminal (fast light).