Metal-semiconductor waveguides for application to optical-optical switching

Author

Holzman, J.F. ; Vermeulen, F.E. ; Elezzabi, A.Y.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Alberta Univ., Edmonton, Alta., Canada

Volume

2

fYear

1999

fDate

9-12 May 1999

Firstpage

606

Abstract

A novel semiconductor all-optical switching technique is presented for application to ultrashort infrared laser pulse switching. An air-filled metal-clad semiconductor waveguide is illuminated with femtosecond above bandgap laser radiation. Guided wave electromagnetic analysis-combined with time-varying dielectric properties of the semiconductor layer-is used to investigate the ultrafast switching speed of the structure. The device is capable of modulation at various infrared wavelengths. We investigate modulation of the quasi TE/sub 10/ mode of 10.6 /spl mu/m laser radiation for an electron-hole (e-h) photoinjection density of /spl sim/1.8/spl times/10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/. The resulting extinction ratio of 83 dB is significantly higher than that exhibited by current optical-optical semiconductor switches.

Keywords

dielectric function; energy gap; high-speed optical techniques; optical modulation; optical planar waveguides; optical switches; semiconductors; 10.6 mum; air-filled metal-clad semiconductor waveguide; electron-hole photoinjection density; extinction ratio; femtosecond above bandgap laser radiation; guided wave electromagnetic analysis; infrared wavelengths; metal-semiconductor waveguides; modulation; optical-optical switching; quasi TE/sub 10/ mode; semiconductor all-optical switching technique; semiconductor layer; time-varying dielectric properties; ultrafast switching speed; ultrashort infrared laser pulse switching; Electromagnetic scattering; Electromagnetic waveguides; Laser modes; Optical pulses; Optical waveguides; Photonic band gap; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor waveguides; Ultrafast optics; Waveguide lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1999 IEEE Canadian Conference on

Conference_Location

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ISSN

0840-7789

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5579-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CCECE.1999.807971

Filename

807971