High-power extremely shallow quantum-well modulators

Author

Goossen, K.W. ; Chirovsky, L.M.F. ; Morgan, R.A. ; Cunningham, J.E. ; Jan, W.Y.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Holmdel, NJ, USA

Volume

3

Issue

5

fYear

1991

fDate

5/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

448

Lastpage

450

Abstract

It is found that extremely shallow quantum wells (QWs) are capable of modulating high-intensity light due to the enhanced sweep out of photogenerated carriers. These QWs are especially well suited for use in self-electrooptic effect devices (SEEDs) due to the existence of a strong room-temperature exciton that ionizes rapidly with field. For a 3- mu m diameter spot, bistable reflectivity changes (for a symmetric-SEED arrangement using a 7 V power supply) of 18% at 1 mW (24 kW/cm/sup 2/), 10% at 2 mW, and 4% at 3 mW were obtained, compared to 6.8% at 0.4 mW for the previous best sample.<>

Keywords

electro-optical devices; excitons; optical bistability; optical modulation; reflectivity; semiconductor quantum wells; 1 mW; 2 mW; 3 mW; 3 micron; bistable reflectivity; extremely shallow quantum-well modulators; high-intensity light; light modulation; photogenerated carriers; self-electrooptic effect devices; strong room-temperature exciton; Absorption; Excitons; Optical bistability; Optical devices; Optical modulation; Optical saturation; PIN photodiodes; Photoconductivity; Quantum wells; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.93874

Filename

93874