Not so fast with dismissing the diode though. There is another trick they have hiding up their sleeves, they can also act as a switch. It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, after all a quick ...

Inside the instrument is a pair of sample-and-hold circuits using fast diodes as RF switches, triggered by very low-rise-time short pulses. Clever tricks abound, such as using the diode pair to ...

They're known as "thyristors" and a variety of types, including Shockley Diodes, exist. Thyristors are chiefly used as switches to control power supplies -- often in electrical utility systems.