Optically activated planar GaAs switches for DC applications

We report the successful demonstration of an optically activated GaAs switches for DC applications. The results obtained suggest that such devices can be used to control a static voltage drop of several hundreds of volts across gas microstrip detectors for high-energy experiments. The response of passivated/non-passivated devices and also for proton irradiated devices has been evaluated as a function of the incident light intensity and of the applied voltage.