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Semiconductor Science and Technology

Bistable optical response in quantum well semiconductor microcavity

Massimo Gurioli, Lucia Cavigli, G. Khitrova, H. M. Gibbs

Published Mar 10, 2004• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report an experimental study of the optical bistability in a semiconductor microcavity (MC), consisting of a wedged λ GaAs spacer containing a single 8.5 nm In 0.04 Ga 0.96 As quantum well (QW). Increasing the excitation power, a transition between the normal coupling and the weak coupling regime of the MC modes is observed. At intermediate excitation power the reflectivity spectrum shows the simultaneous presence of three resonances, with a third peak spectrally lying between the two normal modes. Monitoring the reflected signal for different laser energy as a function of the excitation power, we found that optical bistability is observed only at the energy of the third peak. The experimental findings do not agree with transfer matrix calculations based on exciton bleaching, suggesting that more complex nonlinear mechanisms are relevant in the observed bistable behaviour.

DOI
10.1088/0268-1242/19/4/114

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We report an experimental study of the optical bistability in a semiconductor microcavity (MC), consisting of a wedged λ GaAs spacer containing a single 8.5 nm In 0.04 Ga 0.96 As quantum well (QW). Increasing the excitation power, a transition between the normal coupling and the weak coupling regime of the MC modes is observed. At intermediate excitation power the reflectivity spectrum shows the simultaneous presence of three resonances, with a third peak spectrally lying between the two normal modes. Monitoring the reflected signal for different laser energy as a function of the excitation power, we found that optical bistability is observed only at the energy of the third peak. The experimental findings do not agree with transfer matrix calculations based on exciton bleaching, suggesting that more complex nonlinear mechanisms are relevant in the observed bistable behaviour.
Optical bistability in a semiconductor microcavity showing normal mode coupling regime is observed by means of reflectivity and resonant Rayleigh scattering experiments. A third resonance, spectrally lying between the two normal modes, suddenly appears in the optical response when increasing the excitation power. Hysteresis loops are found when monitoring the microcavity optical response at the energy of the third peak. Our experimental findings can not be accounted for simply by exciton bleaching. We conclude that other non-linear mechanisms are relevant in explaining the presence of the third peak and the observed bistable behaviour. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
We report the experimental observation of hysteresis in the optical response of a semiconductor microcavity under normal mode coupling regime. A third resonance mode, spectrally lying at the bare cavity mode frequency, suddenly appears in the reflectivity and resonant Rayleigh scattering spectra when increasing the excitation power, resulting in a coexistence of three resonance modes. Bistability loops in both microcavity optical response are found at the energy of this third mode. Associated to the bistability, laserlike emission occurs at the bare cavity mode.
The normal modes in a nonperturbatively coupled quantum-well semiconductor microcavity are linear superpositions of the QW exciton and cavity mode when the QW exciton transition is resonant with the cavity mode. When the lower normal mode is excited by a phase-locked pair of optical pulses, the nonlinear response of a probe pulse tuned to the upper mode is controlled. Thus the normal modes are coupled in their nonlinear optical response due to the nonlinearity of the exciton underlying the two normal modes. The cavity enhancement of the excitonic nonlinearity gives rise to a large signal; modulating the relative phase of the excitation pulses produces a differential reflectivity of up to 10%. Besides the coherent control of normal modes which is explainable with in the frame of semiclassical models, we observe a purely quantum mechanical phenomenon in our system. The quantum correlations between the field and carrier density lead to intraband coherences which live much longer than the interband dephasing time.
We propose a mechanism for achieving optical bistability in semiconductor heterostructures. In contrast to the well-known refractive shift of the Fabry-Perot mode in macroscopic resonators, we consider the bleaching of the exciton Rabi splitting in strong-coupling microcavities and prove that this nonlinear process leads to an optically bistable behavior. Through a model based on the transfer-matrix formalism, we predict the dependence of this effect on specific material parameters and on the nature of the cavity. Numerical calculations are carried out for quantum well embedded cavities and the possibility of room-temperature bistable operation is also discussed. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The threshold of triply resonant optical parametric oscillation in a semiconductor microcavity in the strong coupling regime is investigated. Because of the third-order nature of the excitonic nonlinearity, a variety of different behaviors is observed thanks to the interplay of parametric oscillation and optical bistability effects. The behavior of the signal amplitude and of the quantum fluctuations in approaching the threshold has been characterized as a function of the pump, signal, and idler frequencies.
Abstract We investigate the optical properties of a hybrid solid-state optomechanical microcavity containing two coupled quantum wells interacting with the cavity mode in the presence of a third-order nonlinear medium and a mechanically compliant distributed Bragg reflector (MC-DBR). The MC-DBR interacts with the cavity mode via the nonlinear radiation pressure effect. The steady state mean-field analysis shows the existence of optical bistability, which can be utilized to design all optical tunable switch. The coupling between the two quantum wells, the interaction between the excitons and the optical mode, the Kerr nonlinearity, and the optomechanical interaction can be tuned to operate the optical switch at lower input laser power. The fluctuation dynamics demonstrate the presence of optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) and optomechanically induced absorption (OMIA). We find that both OMIT and OMIA can be manipulated efficiently by optomechanical coupling strength and the quantum well tunneling rate.