Picosecond switching of GaAs/AlGaAs smart pixels.

We demonstrate that GaAs/AlGaAs smart pixels can be operated with picosecond and subpicosecond laser pulses. Switching times as short as 200 ps are measured. Our results confirm the theoretical prediction that input mode-locked pulses are more advantageous than the more typical square-wave pulses. They also suggest that use of picosecond mode-locked pulses for optical output could produce operating speeds in the gigahertz range.