Impact of amplified spontaneous emission on carrier density for measurement of optical nonlinearities in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells

Author

Kawase, M. ; Garmire, E. ; Lee, H.C. ; Dapkus, P.D.

Author_Institution

Center for Laser Studies, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

29

Issue

8

fYear

1993

fDate

8/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2306

Lastpage

2312

Abstract

It is shown that amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) can affect the measurement of nonlinear optical properties in semiconductors through its reduction of the excess carrier density. When the optical excitation area is large, lateral ASE can reduce the carriers within a much shorter period of time than the normal carrier lifetime. Just after ASE is over, the time-integrated surface photoluminescence signal may be used as a measure of the carrier density, which is the carrier density experienced by an ns probe in ps pump experiments. When the excited carrier density is at 10²⁰ cm^-3, surface ASE is also possible and is observed, even with small spot sizes

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; high-speed optical techniques; luminescence of inorganic solids; nonlinear optics; optical pumping; photoluminescence; semiconductor quantum wells; superradiance; GaAs-AlGaAs; MQW; SQW; amplified spontaneous emission; carrier density; carrier lifetime; excited carrier density; multiple quantum wells; ns probe; optical excitation area; optical nonlinearities; ps pump experiments; semiconductor quantum wells; semiconductors; small spot sizes; surface ASE; time-integrated surface photoluminescence signal; Charge carrier density; Density measurement; Gallium arsenide; Nonlinear optics; Optical pumping; Optical saturation; Quantum well devices; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Spontaneous emission; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.245559

Filename

245559