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Applied Physics Letters

Robust infrared gratings in photorefractive quantum wells generated by an above-band-gap laser

David D. Nolte, Qiong Wang, M. R. Melloch

Published May 13, 1991• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1063/1.105012

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Photonics Letters of Poland•Mar 31, 2012•0 citations

Influence of electron density and trion formation on the phase-coherent photorefractive effect in ZnSe quantum wells

A. Kabir, Hans Peter Wagner

We investigate the influence of electron density and trion formation on the phase-coherent photorefractive effect in ZnSe single quantum wells by laser energy and temperature dependent degenerate four-wave-mixing experiments using 90-fs pulses. Two different structures with the same quantum well width and confinement energy but different barriers adjacent to the GaAs substrate are studied in order to compare the formation of a photorefractive electron density grating at specific excitation conditions. At temperatures below 35 K and laser excitation energy close to the exciton energy the formation of trions significantly suppresses the generation of an electron density grating. At lower excitation energies increasing space-charge fields reduce the trion binding energy which leads to an enhanced thermal ionization of trions resulting in a strong phase-coherent photorefractive effect. Due to the thermal dissociation of trions at temperatures exceeding 45 K a significant photorefractive effect exists even at exciton resonant excitation. The experimentally observed signal traces obtained at different excitation conditions are in good agreement with model calculations that are based on the optical Bloch equations, including inhomogeneous broadening at strong space-charge fields.

Physical Review B•Mar 18, 2011•1 citation
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.
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.
Photorefractive AlGaAs–GaAs multiple-quantum-well structures perform as ultrafast field autocorrelators during steady-state four-wave mixing by use of femtosecond pulses. The photorefractive thin films operate in the Raman–Nath diffraction regime with thin transmission gratings. The thin gratings permit degenerate and nondegenerate four-wave mixing without the need to satisfy phase-matching conditions. Nondegenerate mixing has several advantages over degenerate four-wave mixing. The autocorrelation is broadband and is viable for photon energies larger than the band gap of the photorefractive sample, and the diffraction efficiency is unaffected by the bandwidth of the femtosecond pulses. In addition, the readout laser can be a low-power low-cost cw diode laser.
An interaction between optical signal guided in a photorefractive multiple quantum well planar waveguide and two external waves is considered. The external waves create a refractive index grating in the waveguide core which can be applied for frequency selective switching of guided signals. The influence of free carriers generated by the signal wave on the stability of photorefractive grating is analyzed. Full Text: PDF References D.D. Nolte, "Semi-insulating semiconductor heterostructures: Optoelectronic properties and applications", [CrossRef] M. Wichtowski, A. Ziółkowski, E. Weinert-Rączka, "A general approach to the space–charge field solution in photorefractive materials in a TWM geometry", J. Opt. 12, 065201 (2010) [CrossRef] E. Weinert-Rączka, M. Wichtowski, A. Ziółkowski, G. Staroń, "Photorefractive Grating in Multiple Quantum Well Planar Waveguide", Acta Phys. Pol. A 103, 229 (2003) A. Ziółkowski, E. Weinert-Rączka, "Dark screening solitons in multiple quantum well planar waveguide", [CrossRef] A. Ziółkowski, "Temporal analysis of solitons in photorefractive semiconductors", J. Opt. 14, 035202 (2012) [CrossRef] M. Wichtowski, E. Weinert-Rączka, "Photorefractive Multiple Quantum Well Waveguide as a Bragg Reflector ", Acta Physica Polonica A 103, 239 (2003) Q. Wang, R. M. Brubaker, D. D. Nolte and M. R. Melloch, "Photorefractive quantum wells: transverse Franz—Keldysh geometry", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9, 1626 (1992) [CrossRef] D. D. Nolte, D. H. Olson, G. E. Doran, W. H. Knox, A. M. Glass, "Resonant photodiffractive effect in semi-insulating multiple quantum wells", A.M. Glass. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 7, 2217 (1990) [CrossRef] D.D. Nolte, M. R. Melloch : In: Photorectractive effects and Materials, ed. by D. D. Nolte (Kluwer, Dordrecht 1995) L. F. Magaňa, F. Agulló-López and M. Carrascosa, "Role of physical parameters on the photorefractive performance of semiconductor multiple quantum wells", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11, 1651 (1994) [CrossRef] Q. Wang, R. M. Brubaker, D. D. Nolte, "Photorefractive phase shift induced by hot-electron transport: multiple-quantum-well structures", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9, 1773 (1994) [CrossRef] P. Vaveliuk, B. Ruiz, N. Bolognini, "Analysis of the steady-state photorefractive harmonic gratings", Phys. Rev. B, 59, 10985 (1999) [CrossRef] D. S. Chemla, D. A. B. Miller, P. W. Smith, A. C. Gossard, W. Wiegmann, "Room temperature excitonic nonlinear absorption and refraction in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well structures", IEEE J. Quantum. Electron. 20, 265 (1984) [CrossRef] D.D. Nolte, Q. Wang, "Robust infrared gratings in photorefractive quantum wells generated by an above-band-gap laser", Appl. Phys Lett. 58, 2067 (1991) [CrossRef]
We investigate the influence of electron density and trion formation on the phase-coherent photorefractive effect in ZnSe single quantum wells by laser energy and temperature dependent degenerate four-wave-mixing experiments using 90-fs pulses. Two different structures with the same quantum well width and confinement energy but different barriers adjacent to the GaAs substrate are studied in order to compare the formation of a photorefractive electron density grating at specific excitation conditions. At temperatures below 35 K and laser excitation energy close to the exciton energy the formation of trions significantly suppresses the generation of an electron density grating. At lower excitation energies increasing space-charge fields reduce the trion binding energy which leads to an enhanced thermal ionization of trions resulting in a strong phase-coherent photorefractive effect. Due to the thermal dissociation of trions at temperatures exceeding 45 K a significant photorefractive effect exists even at exciton resonant excitation. The experimentally observed signal traces obtained at different excitation conditions are in good agreement with model calculations that are based on the optical Bloch equations, including inhomogeneous broadening at strong space-charge fields.