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IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics

Bandgap resonant optical nonlinearities in InAs and their use in optical bistability

CRAIG D. POOLE, E. Garmire

Published Sep 1, 1985• 30 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A detailed study of bandgap resonant optical nonlinearities in n-type InAs and their use in an optical bistable device is presented. The results of measurements of both nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction taken with an HF laser show good agreement with a band-filling model in which the contribution from the light-hole band and the effects of large initial free carrier densities are included. Evidence of the saturation of the nonlinear refraction through the carrier-density-dependent recombination rate is presented, and it is shown that this effect together with diffraction effects accounts for the critical power for bistability observed in the reflected signal from an InAs etalon at 77 K.

DOI
10.1109/jqe.1985.1072846

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InSb has been shown to exhibit bistability and a very large nonlinear index.1 A semiconductor which is similiar, but which has a bandgap at shorter wavelengths is InAs. In this talk we present measurements of saturable absorption in InAs using an HF laser, which matches the bandgap of InAs at temperatures from 5° to 100° K. Using these measurements we have calculated a nonlinear refractive index of n2 = 2x10−5 cm2/W for light near but below the bandgap. These numbers are comparable to those measured in InSb and indicate that InAs may be a good material for bistable devices.

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Reflective optical bistability at 3 mW in InAs

CRAIG D. POOLE, E. Garmire

Optical bistability using the large nonlinear index at the band gap of semiconductors has been demonstrated in InSb and GaAs.1,2 We present here bistability in InAs at a wavelength of 3μm, which lies between that of the other reported semiconductors. The 3-μm line of the HF laser was used which closely matches the band gap at 77 K. We also will report on experiments in progress to observe bistability at room temperature with the DF laser.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 1984•1 citation
A detailed study of bandgap resonant optical nonlinearities in n-type InAs and their use in an optical bistable device is presented. The results of measurements of both nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction taken with an HF laser show good agreement with a band-filling model in which the contribution from the light-hole band and the effects of large initial free carrier densities are included. Evidence of the saturation of the nonlinear refraction through the carrier-density-dependent recombination rate is presented, and it is shown that this effect together with diffraction effects accounts for the critical power for bistability observed in the reflected signal from an InAs etalon at 77 K.
InSb has been shown to exhibit bistability and a very large nonlinear index.1 A semiconductor which is similiar, but which has a bandgap at shorter wavelengths is InAs. In this talk we present measurements of saturable absorption in InAs using an HF laser, which matches the bandgap of InAs at temperatures from 5° to 100° K. Using these measurements we have calculated a nonlinear refractive index of n2 = 2x10−5 cm2/W for light near but below the bandgap. These numbers are comparable to those measured in InSb and indicate that InAs may be a good material for bistable devices.
Semiconductors exhibit large optical nonlinearities near the band edge because of resonance enhancement. Optical bistability occurs when the optical nonlinearities are coupled with feedback. In bulk GaAs and GaAs–AlGaAs multiple-quantum-well superlattices, the nonlinearity arising from the presence of the free-exciton resonance has produced room-temperature optical bistability with a few milliwatts of power. The formation of biexcitons in CuCl, the saturation of the bound exciton on CdS, and band-filling effects in InSb, InAs, and HgCdTe lead to observation of bistability in these materials. A bistable etalon can be operated in an optical-gate mode to generate optical analogs of electronic gates such as and, or, and nor. It has been demonstrated that a GaAs optical NOR gate responds in ∼1 psec, using only ≲3 pJ of energy. However, because of the carrier lifetime of a few nanoseconds, the repetition rate of the NOR gate is now limited to a few hundred megahertz.
Abstract The results of an experimental investigation ol nonlinearities and bistability at the band gap in InAs are presented. Bistability was observed in reflection at 3 mW with a HF laser by using the large nonlinearity at the band-gap resonance in InAs. The measured nonlinear refractive index is shown quantitatively to agree with the dynamic Burstein—Moss shift as the mechanism, as long as both the full Fermi-Dirac statistics and the effect of light holes are included in the calculation. In a separate study a theoretical analysis has investigated general conditions for intrinsic bistability without cavities. It is shown that bistability can result from a nonlinear constitutive relation. Specific calculations are presented for bistability due to nonlinear polarization.
We present a review of optical bistability in active and passive optoelectronic devices, with particular reference to switching speeds and powers. The large resonant nonlinearities available near the bandgaps of semiconductors may be utilized to develop bistable devices operating at low powers and high speeds. Passive devices are driven by external optical sources and include nonlinear etalons, nonlinear interfaces, self-focusing configurations and electro-optic modulators with electrical feedback. Active devices include injection lasers and superluminescent amplifiers. Potential advantages of active devices include speed, gain, sensitivity and the ability to drive other devices, but complexity and high power dissipation may limit their use in applications requiring high density.