Experimental and theoretical studies of a novel hetero-nipi reflection modulator

Author

Poole, Philip J. ; Phillips, Chris C. ; Roberts, Christine ; Paxman, M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK

Volume

30

Issue

4

fYear

1994

fDate

4/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1027

Lastpage

1035

Abstract

A novel GaAs/Al_0.35Ga_0.65As hetero-nipi all-optical reflection modulator has been investigated, both theoretically and experimentally. The modulation is found to be dominated by the refractive index changes that occur in the quantum wells as a result of optically induced electric field changes via the quantum-confined Stark effect. Good agreement is found between the theoretical and experimental behavior, with a maximum absolute experimental modulation of 11% and a maximum contrast ratio of 4.4:1 being observed at room temperature at optical pump densities of only 1.9 mW/cm². A numerical model of the device is developed, which predicts large reflectivity modulations of greater than 53% with a contrast ratio of 25:1 in optimized device structures

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Stark effect; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; optical modulation; reflectivity; semiconductor superlattices; GaAs-AlGaAs; GaAs/Al_0.35Ga_0.65As; contrast ratio; hetero-nipi all-optical reflection modulator; hetero-nipi reflection modulator; large reflectivity modulations; maximum absolute experimental modulation; maximum contrast ratio; numerical model; optical pump densities; optically induced electric field changes; optimized device structures; quantum wells; quantum-confined Stark effect; refractive index changes; room temperature; Gallium arsenide; Numerical models; Optical modulation; Optical pumping; Optical reflection; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Refractive index; Stark effect; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.291372

Filename

291372