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Journal of the Optical Society of America A

Giant third-order nonlinearities in semiconductors and application in bistability, transphasor action, and phase conjugation (A)

Stanley Desmond Smith, David A. B. Miller

Published Jun 1, 1980• 1 citation
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We report the realisation of optically bistable switching and memory elements, and the transphasor Can all-optical transistor) in simple one element nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometers made from the semiconductor InSb. These devices, which operate at 5 K and 77 K with mW powers from a cw CO laser between 5 and 6 μm rely on a strongly intensity-dependent refractive index discovered near the bandgap region of InSb and explained by bandgap resonant saturation. Switching speeds are shown to be < 500 ns in these first devices and operation to much shorter timescales is predicted. Operation at room temperature and in other semiconductors at other wavelengths remains a possibility and such devices offer considerable potential for all-optical switching in integrated optics and laser pulse control.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•May 15, 1981•1 citation
Detailed results are presented on optical bistability (OB) and two-beam optical transistor (transphasor) action in simple, one-element Fabry-Perot devices, with the semiconductor InSb using a CW CO laser near the bandgap region, and OB for semiconductors in general is discussed. OB and multistability are seen in transmission and reflection at 5 K. At 77 K,n_{2} \simeq 3 \times 10^{-3}cm2/W [corresponding to an effective\chi^{(3)} \sim 1ESU] is measured and OB is observed at ∼8 mW. Transphasor action at 5 K is presented and the influence of degenerate four-wave mixing is discussed. The basic physics of the microscopic mechanism for n2(bandgap-resonant saturation) is summarized and a simplified, generalized model is derived. This model and arguments on cavity optimization are used to predict order of magnitude limits to switching power, energy, and speed, both in InSb and other semiconductors, even in the absence of excitonic enhancement.
We report the realisation of optically bistable switching and memory elements, and the transphasor Can all-optical transistor) in simple one element nonlinear Fabry-Perot interferometers made from the semiconductor InSb. These devices, which operate at 5 K and 77 K with mW powers from a cw CO laser between 5 and 6 μm rely on a strongly intensity-dependent refractive index discovered near the bandgap region of InSb and explained by bandgap resonant saturation. Switching speeds are shown to be < 500 ns in these first devices and operation to much shorter timescales is predicted. Operation at room temperature and in other semiconductors at other wavelengths remains a possibility and such devices offer considerable potential for all-optical switching in integrated optics and laser pulse control.