The authors discuss the design, fabrication, and application of optically activated switches. A 0.25 m-thick Si pin diode, 3.0 mm in diameter, was tested using an 808 nm 2-D diode laser array measuring about 2 mm*5 mm as an optical source. Preliminary testing of the diode has demonstrated a holding voltage of 1000 V and a conduction of 10 A upon activation with 200 W of optical power (the pulse width was 10 mu s). The same device, while being pulsed-biased to 2.0 kV, has demonstrated 20 A pulses (100 ns pulse width) with less than 10 ns risetime. The laser peak power was 500 W. >