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Chinese Physics Letters

Two-Wave Mixing in Resonant Photorefractive GaAs/AlGaAs Semi-insulating Multiple Quantum Wells

Hu Cheng-Yong, Zhang Zhiguo, Kang Jing, Feng Wei, Hu Qiang, Qi Huang, Zhou Junming

Published Jun 1, 1995• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have observed the two-wave mixing of the photorefractive GaAs/AlGaAs semi-insulating multiple quantum wells fabricated by film lift-off approach and protonimplanting technique. Under the non-optimized condition, we have obtained the two-wave mixing gain larger than 180 cm -1 at wavelength near 784 nm for a field of 10 kV/cm. Energy transfer is also observed when the applied field is perpendicular to the grating vector.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/12/6/012

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We have observed the two-wave mixing of the photorefractive GaAs/AlGaAs semi-insulating multiple quantum wells fabricated by film lift-off approach and protonimplanting technique. Under the non-optimized condition, we have obtained the two-wave mixing gain larger than 180 cm -1 at wavelength near 784 nm for a field of 10 kV/cm. Energy transfer is also observed when the applied field is perpendicular to the grating vector.
We have observed two-wave mixing in semi-insulating AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum well structures at wavelengths near the exciton absorption. The photorefractive index changes are caused by the Franz–Keldysh effect on quantum-confined excitons. Photorefractive gains larger than 200 cm−1 are obtained for the first time at wavelengths near 836 nm using stationary fringes and dc applied fields up to 5 kV/cm. The direction of energy transfer between the two beams is determined by the direction of applied electric field.
The theory of photorefractive grating formation in a semi-insulating GaAs/AlGaAs multiple-quantum-well structure (MQWS) with an electric field applied across the layers and for counterpropagating writing beams is presented. The gain and the response time demonstrate a resonant behavior with respect to variations in both the applied field and the light’s wavelength. For a semi-insulating MQWS such an interaction geometry could provide the highest two-wave mixing gain, as much as 104 cm−1, which exceeds the linear absorption.
Nonreciprocal energy transfer between two coherent laser beams during two-wave mixing requires a photorefractive phase shift between the interference pattern and the resulting space charge. The symmetry of the Stark geometry photorefractive quantum wells forbids a phase shift using either dc or ac fields. We present the first experimental demonstration of nonreciprocal energy transfer during two-wave mixing using moving gratings. Optical energy exchange is observed in photorefractive p-i-n quantum well diodes with photorefractive gains approaching 1000 cm−1 and exhibiting complex spatio-temporal dynamics.
The photorefractive properties of semi-insulating AlGaAs–GaAs multiple quantum wells are described for the transverse Franz–Keldysh geometry with the electric field in the plane of the quantum wells. Combining the strong electroabsorption of quantum-confined excitons with the high resistivity of semi-insulating quantum wells yields large nonlinear optical sensitivities. The photorefractive quantum wells have effective nonlinear optical sensitivities of n2 ≈ 103 cm2/W and α2/α0 ≈ 104 cm2/W for applied fields of 10 kV/cm. Photorefractive gains approaching 1000 cm−1 have been observed in two-wave mixing under dc electric fields and stationary fringes. The transverse Franz–Keldysh geometry retains the general transport properties and behavior of conventional bulk photorefractive materials. The resonant excitation of free electrons and holes in the quantum wells leads to novel behavior associated with electron–hole competition. We demonstrate that under resonant excitation of electrons and holes the device resolution is fundamentally limited by diffusion lengths but is insensitive to long drift lengths.
Probe beam intensities more than an order of magnitude larger than pump beam intensities do not erase photorefractive gratings during nondegenerate four-wave mixing in photorefractive GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. The pump and probe laser wavelengths are absorbed in spatially separated regions of the multilayer structure. The photoconductivity of a probe beam around 840 nm is confined to the GaAs quantum wells and cannot easily erase the trapped space-charge gratings in the AlGaAs barriers written by an above-band-gap HeNe laser at 633 nm. This allows a weak visible control beam to modulate a strong infrared signal beam.