Program to Develop an Optical Transistor and Switch.

Previous work has proposed and analyzed the concept of two light beams interacting with a suitable medium to the effect that one beam turns the second beam on or off an optical switch, or that the modulation in the first beam in amplified in the second an optical transistor. Switching action was also demonstrated experimentally in uranyl for switching rates up to several kHz. In the present work, a more general survey and analysis was undertaken to identify classes and species of materials for which a particularly effective switching or transistor action can be predicted theoretically. As a class, dense materials, including liquid dyes, have broad absorption band spectra, resulting in low-performance capabilities such as a low transistor gain. In contrast, media in which atomic transitions are free, or shielded, from the fields of other atoms have, as switches and transistors, relatively high speeds of response and low demands on radiation power and mass of interacting materials. As special examples of this class, the performance characteristics of lithium and sodium wer calculated and the implications of the results discussed with respect to further action. Keywords include Optical, Switch, Transistors, Absorption, Relaxation, Rate, Cross sections, Lithium, Sodium, Transition, Line and Bands.