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Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research

ALL-OPTICAL BISTABLE SWITCHING WITH GAIN IN AN INGAAS/GAAS QUANTUM-WELL WAVE-GUIDE

Ta-Wei Kao, Patrick LiKamWa, A. Miller, M. Ogawa, R M Park, Paul W. Cooke

Published Jan 1, 1992• 0 citations
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Abstract

The gain characteristics of strained layer InGaAs quantum well laser amplifiers grown on GaAs substrates have been characterized using a Ti-sapphire laser in both CW and self-mode-locked configuration. All-optical bistability was achieved in such a device through the nonlinear refractive index that arises as a result of the gain saturation of the diode amplifier at high optical intensities. The Ti-sapphire laser was modified to produce wavelength tunable pulses of the order of 150 fs with a 15 nm spectral bandwidth in order to measure the dynamics of the gain using a time resolved optical pump-probe technique. The gain saturation occurs on the time scale of the pulse width of the laser and the initial recovery is extremely fast. This initial speedy recovery on a time scale of 100 fs is followed by a slower recovery with a time constant of 3 ps followed by a much slower recovery of 500 ps.

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Applied Physics Letters•May 17, 1993•13 citations
The gain characteristics of strained layer InGaAs quantum well laser amplifiers grown on GaAs substrates have been characterized using a Ti-sapphire laser in both CW and self-mode-locked configuration. All-optical bistability was achieved in such a device through the nonlinear refractive index that arises as a result of the gain saturation of the diode amplifier at high optical intensities. The Ti-sapphire laser was modified to produce wavelength tunable pulses of the order of 150 fs with a 15 nm spectral bandwidth in order to measure the dynamics of the gain using a time resolved optical pump-probe technique. The gain saturation occurs on the time scale of the pulse width of the laser and the initial recovery is extremely fast. This initial speedy recovery on a time scale of 100 fs is followed by a slower recovery with a time constant of 3 ps followed by a much slower recovery of 500 ps.
The gain characteristics of strained layer InGaAs quantum well laser amplifiers grown on GaAs substrates have been characterized using a Ti-sapphire laser in both CW and self-mode- locked configuration. All-optical bistability was achieved in such a device through the nonlinear refractive index that arises as a result of the gain saturation of the diode amplifier at high optical intensities. The Ti-sapphire laser was modified to produce wavelength tunable pulses of the order of 150 fs with a 15 nm spectral bandwidth in order to measure the dynamics of the gain using a time resolved optical pump-probe technique. The gain saturation occurs on the time scale of the pulse width of the laser and the initial recovery is extremely fast. This initial speedy recovery on a time scale of 100 fs is followed by a slower recovery with a time constant of 3 ps followed by a much slower recovery of 500 ps.
The nonlinear saturation of the excitonic absorbtion in a GaAs-InxGa 1-xAs multiple quantum well sample consisting of 80 wells was investigated in the vicinity of the excitonic resonance at 991 nm using a tuneable titanium sapphire laser probe. This characterization yields a saturation intensity s of less than 50 kW/cm and a maximum off-resonance nonlinear refractive index of 6.42 x 10-7 cm2/W. It is shown that this dispersion can lead to practical optically bistable etalons fabricated from these multiple quantum well structures.
The nonlinear saturation of the excitonic absorbtion in a GaAs‐InxGa1−xAs multiple quantum well sample consisting of 80 wells was investigated in the vicinity of the excitonic resonance at 991 nm using a tunable titanium sapphire laser probe. This characterization yields a saturation intensity of less than 50 kW/cm2 and a maximum off‐resonance nonlinear refractive index of 6.42–10−7 cm2/W. This dispersion can lead to practical optically bistable etalons fabricated from these multiple quantum well structures.
Dispersive bistability arising from the carrier-dependence of the refractive index has been observed in semiconductor lasers operated just below threshold with a small injected optical signal. The minimum optical input required for switch-up is as low as 1 μW for InGaAsP amplifiers at 1.55 μm(1) and 1.3 μm(2) (cf 30 μW for GaAs devices(3)). As yet, reliable measurements of the dynamic response are not (4) available, although we predict recovery times to be on the order of carrier lifetimes, ie a few nanoseconds at room temperature. This contribution will review our experimental and theoretical work on 1.55 μm amplifier bistability and set it in the context of other semiconductor bistable optical devices.
We report on the characterization of the ultrafast gain and refractive index dynamics of an InAs/InGaAsP self-assembled quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) operating at 1.55 mum through heterodyne pump-probe measurements with 150 fs resolution. The measurements show a 15 ps gain recovery time at a wavelength of 1560 nm, promising for ultrafast switching at >40 GHz in the important telecommunications wavelength bands. Ultrafast dynamics with 0.2-1.5 ps lifetimes were also found consistent with carrier heating and spectral hole burning. Comparing with previous reports on quantum dot SOAs at 1.1-1.3 mum wavelengths, we conclude that the carrier heating is caused by a combination of free-carrier absorption and stimulated transition processes.
We report on a novel monolithic all-optical bistable device operating at 980 nm, based on the dispersive optical nonlinearity of strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells located at the antinodes of the microcavity optical field. This design maximizes the interaction with the intracavity field and allowed to use only twelve quantum wells of 10 nm thickness. The first observation of all-optical bistability with strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells is reported, with a contrast ratio of 7:1 and a threshold intensity of 1 kW/cm2. The operating wavelength offers key advantages such as the substrate transparency and compatibility with vertical cavity surface emitting lasers.