1.55 μm InGaAs-InP Quantum Wire Optical Modulators: Optimization of Wire Width to Maximize Absorption and Index of Refraction Changes Due to Excitonic Transitions

Quantum wire/dot modulators offer superior performance over their quantum counterpart due to enhanced excitonic binding energy. This paper presents simulations on InGaAs-InP quantum wire Stark effect optical modulators showing a novel trend. While the excitonic binding energies and absorption coefficients increase as the width of the wire is decreased, the refractive index change Δn is maximized at a wire width depending on the magnitude of the applied electric field. For example, Δn is maximized at a width of about 100Å for an external electric field of 120kV/cm in an InGaAs quantum wire. This behavior is explained by considering the opposing effects of the wire width on binding energy and changes in the electron-hole overlap function in the presence of an external electric field. Practical InGaAs-InP modulators using V-groove structures are also presented.     

Optical properties of (001) GaN/AlN quantum wells

The absorption coefficient and the photoluminescence of (001) GaN/AlN quantum wells are calculated for several values of the well width, with and without the excitonic effect corrections, in the usual monoelectronic approach and as a many-body problem. The calculation was performed considering separate isolated bands for electrons, heavy and light holes. The monoelectronic approach to the optical properties was performed by assuming infinite well walls and finite well walls, respectively. The calculation including the excitonic effect as a many-body problem was performed within a recent approach designed for low-dimensional systems. The different wells studied here present many localized states and a complicated absorption spectrum. The monoelectronic approach in the infinite quantum well approximation reproduces quite well the spectrum of the wide wells due to the fact that the ground states of electrons and holes are well fixed by this model of quantum well.     

Theoretical studies of optical modulation in lattice matched and strained quantum wells due to transverse electric fields

Electrooptical modulators based on quantum well structures have become an important area of research due to potential applications in high-speed optical modulation and image processing. In this paper, we examine the physics of a quantum well modulator within the generalized Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian. Issues of importance for the modulator structure are the excitonic absorption shift, exciton binding energy, line broadening, tunneling rates for electrons and holes in the presence of a transverse electric field, and changes in optical absorption coefficients as a function of electric field. A formalism to study these effects for both lattice matched and nonlattice matched quantum well structures is provided and the potential of material tailoring for specific optical response is discussed. It is shown that the reliability of this technology is critically related to the fabrication of high-quality interfaces and alloys since even a one-monolayer variation in quantum well size can have a substantial effect on the modulation properties.     

Field effects on the refractive index and absorption coefficient in AlGaAs quantum well structures and their feasibility for electrooptic device applications

Electroreflectance and electroabsorption measurements have been carried out to clarify field effects on the refractive index and absorption coefficient in AlGaAs quantum well structures. The observed electroreflectance spectra show very clear exciton-induced features at room temperature. A maximum variation of the refractive index in each quantum well at a photon energy near the lowest excitonic transition gap is obtained to be 4 percent induced by a 10⁵V/cm field modulation. Electroreflectance and electroabsorption spectra are shown to demonstrate a relation between dispersion curves of the field-induced variations in the refractive index and absorption coefficient in the quantum well structure. Based on the obtained results, operation of an electroabsorption modulator with the capability of small frequency chirping and an efficient optical switch are discussed from the practical point of view.     

Dielectric confinement on exciton binding energy and nonlinear optical properties in a strained Zn1-xinMgx（in）Se/Zn1-x（out）Mgx（out）Se quantum well

正The band offsets for a Zn_(1-Xin)Mg_(Xin)Se/Zn_(1-Xout)Mg_(1-Xout)Se quantum well heterostructure are determined using the model solid theory.The heavy hole exciton binding energies are investigated with various Mg alloy contents.The effect of mismatch between the dielectric constants between the well and the barrier is taken into account.The dependence of the excitonic transition energies on the geometrical confinement and the Mg alloy is discussed.Non-linear optical properties are determined using the compact density matrix approach.The linear,third order non-linear optical absorption coefficient values and the refractive index changes of the exciton are calculated for different concentrations of magnesium.The results show that the occurred blue shifts of the resonant peak due to the Mg incorporation give the information about the variation of two energy levels in the quantum well width.     

Field-induced modulations of refractive index and absorption coefficient in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure

Dispersions of field-induced variations in refractive index and absorption coefficient of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure are obtained with electroreflectance and transmission measurements at room temperature. The result indicates a possibility of an electroabsorption modulator without frequency chirping, operating at a particular wavelength near an excitonic gap.     

Molecular orbital topology and optical properties of galliumarsenide clusters

The oscillator strength is expressed in terms of a density matrix formulation for optical absorption and is calculated for a GaAs cluster by using the self-consistent-field Xα-scattered wave cluster molecular orbital method. The discrete value of oscillator strength due to optical excitation defined by the selection rule leads to a model of the fundamental nature of the excitonic absorption behavior in GaAs bulk material and quantum well structure. Calculated results of band-to-band transition and exciton states are found to agree well with absorption spectra published in literature. The implication of the excitonic states for the nonlinear-optical behavior observed in GaAs quantum well structures is discussed. The presence of excitonic states may cause a `saturation' phenomenon which will lead to the optical nonlinearity     

Low-voltage vertical directional coupler switch with suppressedelectroabsorption

We have studied the performance of a vertical directional coupler in which a multiple quantum well and a bulk semiconductor material act as the cores of the two guides in two arms. The power output of the device is expected to be unaffected by the electroabsorption effect in a directional coupler based on quantum confined Stark effect even when operated very close to the excitonic absorption edge. The above principle is utilized in realizing low-voltage switching and almost equal power in bar and cross states in a multiple-quantum-well (MQW) vertical directional coupler. Our calculation for a vertical coupler composed of InGaAsP bulk and InGaAsP-InP MQWs show switching voltages comparable to that of a similar coupler composed of a more complex barrier reservoir and quantum well electron transfer (BRAQWET) structure, with a slightly lower value of power output     

Tunable photodetectors based on strain compensated GaInAsSb/AlAsSbmultiple quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb strain compensated multiple quantum well (MQW) p-i-n structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb substrates have been successfully fabricated into tunable photodiodes, which showed a large photoresponse peak shift up to 30 meV (80 nm) at 77 K under a reverse bias of 10 V due to quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE). The QCSE persists up to room temperature and the values of the excitonic absorption peak shifts agree well with the calculated results. Based on the observed QCSE, an electrically tunable resonant cavity enhanced photodetector with strain compensated MQW structure is proposed and modeled     

太赫兹场作用下半导体超晶格的动力学过程及光吸收谱研究

基于激子基，采用密度矩阵理论研究了太赫兹场作用下半导体超晶格的子带间动力学过程及光吸收谱。在太赫兹场的驱动下，激子作布洛赫振荡。子带间极化的缓慢变化依赖于太赫兹频率，随着太赫兹频率的增加，子带间极化向下振荡，极化强度降低。以 和 两种超晶格为例进行研究，它们的光吸收谱出现了卫星峰结构，这是由于太赫兹场与万尼尔斯塔克阶梯激子作用的非线性效应产生的。但是就 与 超晶格相比而言，我们研究发现，n<0的激子态与n=0的激子态耦合作用较强使得光吸收谱吻合性较好，n＝0时的激子态吸收光谱出现红移，n>0的激子态光吸收谱中出现的边带效应不是很明显。     

Growth and optical investigation of quaternary GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb quantum wells

Infrared photoluminescence and high sensitive absorption measurements were performed on a quaternary GaInAsSb/AlGaAsSb strained multiple quantum well (MQW), as well as single quantum well (SQW) structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, to investigate its band offsets and subband behavior. Strong luminescence and well-resolved excitonic absorption peaks are observed even at room temperature, which is indicative of the good quality of our quaternary sample. By fitting the experimental results to the theoretical calculations, we find that the light holes are confined in well regions for Ga_0.75In_0.25As_0.04Sb_0.96/Al_0.22Ga_0.78As_0.02Sb_0.98 QWs (type I MQW) with a conduction-band offset ratio of Q_c = 0.66 ± 0.01. The transition from type I to type II for light holes is predicted theoretically and demonstrated directly by photoluminescence spectra in the SQW structures.     

Surface Acoustic Wave Induced Birefringence in In0.21Ga0.79As-GaAs Multiple Quantum Wells for Optical Modulation ≈1000 nm under Normal Incidence

This paper presents observation of quantum Confined Stark effect induced by the surface acoustic waves (SAW) propagating in multiple quantum well (MQW) layers. It also presents the evidence for the first time of SAW induced birefringence under surface normal mode operation in MQWs. MQW layers usually do not exhibit significant birefringence when the light is normally incident. The launching of surface acoustic waves in In_0.21Ga_0.79As-GaAs MQW layers produces significantly different strain along the direction of propagation (y) as compared to the lateral direction (x), and this in turn results in differential absorption coefficient Δα (= α_x - α_y) and birefringence (Δn_bir). The enhanced birefringence due to excitonic effect depends on the magnitude of RF power exciting the SAW transducer. An interdigitated transducer operating at 119 MHz with an aperture (w) to wavelength (Λ) ratio of 25 was used to launch the surface acoustic waves. Typical values of Δn are in the range of 0.01-0.02 for polarized light at ≈1.01 μm wavelength when the RF power is varied between 0.5-1.2 Watt. Computations of Δn are in agreement with experimental data. The SAW propagation also induces a perpendicular component E_z of electric field which results in conventional Stark effect producing absorption and index changes in MQWs that vary as a function of SAW power.     

低温ZnSe/ZnS多量子阱光学双稳态

我们在77K温度下,观察了ZnSe/ZnS多量子阱的激光吸收及激子带展宽现象。在不同的激发波长处进一步得到了增强吸收双稳和色散型双稳态。非线性机制为激子带展宽。     

Dielectric confinement on exciton binding energy and nonlinear optical properties in a strained Zn1-xinMgxinSe/Zn1-xoutMgxoutSe quantum well

The band offsets for a Zn1-xinMgxin Se/Zn1-xoutMgxout Se quantum well heterostructure are determined using the model solid theory.The heavy hole exciton binding energies are investigated with various M...     

Modeling of optical gain in InGaN-AlGaN andInxGa1-xN-InyGa1-yNquantum-well lasers

This paper presents computations of the optical gain in In_x Ga_1-xN-In_yGa_1-yN and InGaN-AlGaN quantum-well lasers involving the contributions of excitons as well as free carriers transitions. The behavior of optical gain in GaN based quantum wells due to excitonic transitions is quite similar to that of ZnCdSe-ZnSSe system, as the magnitude of the exciton binding energies (~30 meV) is comparable. The model compares the exciton emission energy with the experimental data reported on In_0.22Ga_0.78N-In_0.06Ga_0.94N multiple quantum wells as well as in GaN layers (cubic grown on 3C SiC), including the effect of strain induced band gap changes. The optical gain is also computed as a function of the injection current density for the InGaN-AlGaN multiple quantum-well lasers. The model evaluates the feasibility of obtaining GaN based blue and ultraviolet lasers. It is shown that the excitonic transitions reduce the threshold current density which is adversely affected by the presence of dislocations and other defects     

Optical investigation of piezoelectric field effects on excitonic properties in (111)B-grown (In, Ga)As/GaAs quantum wells

The excitonic properties in two (111)B-grown In_0·15Ga_0·85As/GaAs multiple quantum well p-i-n diodes are investigated by thermally-detected optical absorption and electroreflectance rneasurements. The lineshape of the electroreflectance spectra is analysed by means of a multilayer model enabling the energies and the oscillator strengths of excitonic transitions to be deduced. The excitonic characteristic values are calculated by using a variational method. The determination of the variation of the binding energy with in-well field leads to an accurate value of the piezoelectric field in the InGaAs layers. The theoretical oscillator strengths are compared to those obtained from electroreflectance for different excitonic transitions.     

Simulation of Birefringence and Absorption in InGaAs-GaAs Multiple Quantum Well Acoustooptic Modulators Operating Near 980 nm

This paper presents the simulation of surface acoustic wave (SAW)-induced absorption coefficient and refractive index change in InGaAs-GaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structures operating near 980 nm. The exciton problem is solved in two dimensional momentum space to include the non-axial effect due to strain induced valance band mixing and nonparabolicity. The optical absorption coefficient and refractive index changes near the band gap in the MQWs are calculated as a function of SAW power.     

Plasmon-Excitonic Polaritons in Metal-Semiconductor Nanostructures with Quantum Wells

A theory of plasmon-exciton coupling and its spectroscopy is developed for metal-semiconductor nanostructures. Considered as a model is a periodic superlattice with cells consisting of a quantum well and a layer of metal nanoparticles. The problem is solved self-consistently using the electrodynamic Green’s functions taking account of resonant polarization. Coulomb plasmon-exciton interaction is associated with the dipole surface plasmons of particles and their image charges due to excitonic polarization of neighboring quantum well. Optical reflection spectra are numerically investigated for superlattices with GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells and silver nanoparticles. Superradiant regime caused by one-dimensional Bragg diffraction is studied for plasmonic, excitonic and plasmon-excitonic polaritons depending on the number of supercells. The plasmon-excitonic Rabi splitting is shown to occur in reflectivity spectra of resonant Bragg structures.     

Carrier-dependent nonlinearities and modulation in an InGaAs SQWwaveguide

The authors report measurements of optically induced carrier-dependent refractive index changes and their saturation in an InGaAs single quantum well centered within a linear multiple quantum well guided-wave Fabry-Perot resonator using diode laser sources. A low-excitation nonlinear refractive cross-section, σ_n=-1×10^-19 cm³, was deduced for probe wavelengths near the TM (transverse magnetic) absorption edge, falling only to σ_n=-3.1×10^-20 cm³, at over 0.16 μm from the band edge. For an incident irradiance of 18 kW/cm ², refractive index changes in the InGaAs quantum well as large as -0.16 were deduced near the absorption edge, while the index change at a wavelength 0.16 μm from the absorption edge was -0.055. This large off-resonant index change is attributed to an enhanced free-carrier contribution within a 2D system     

Theoretical investigation of an integrated all-opticalcontroller-modulator device using QCSE in a multiquantum wellphototransistor

Theoretical investigation of an all-optical controller-modulator device based on excitonic transitions for the purpose of a general logic implementation are discussed. The device is based on the quantum confined Stark effect of the heavy-hole excitonic transition in a multiquantum well. The device consists of three basic elements: modulator, controller, and load. The controller is a heterojunction phototransistor with multiquantum wells in the base-collector depletion region. This allows an amplified photocurrent-controlled voltage feedback with low light levels, allowing one to change the state of the modulator. A detailed analysis of the sensitivity of this device in various modes of operation (i.e. floating base and contacted base) is presented. Studies on the cascadability of the device as well as its integrating-threshold properties are also presented. Switching of the resistive load and optically active load with less than 10 μW total power is demonstrated to be feasible