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Integrated and Guided-Wave Optics

Optical Bistability and Modulation in Semiconductor Etalons

H. M. Gibbs, S. L. McCall, Thirumalai Venkatesan, A. Passner, Arthur C. Gossard, W. Wiegmann

Published Jan 1, 1980• 1 citation

Abstract

Optical signal processing using all-optical circuitry is an increasingly attractive goal with the recent progress in long- lived light sources, high quantum efficiency detectors, and low- loss high-bandwidth optical fibers. Devices which permit one light beam to control another or which provide an optical memory afford a capability essential to the success of all-optical logic systems. Much progress has been made toward practical bistable1 devices since the first observation2 of optical bistability in sodium vapor. (By optical bistability we refer to devices containing no inverted medium, so that bistable lasers3 are explicitly excluded.) The most practical device so far, a semiconductor etalon consisting of 4 μm of GaAs between 0.2 μm of Al0.42Ga0.53As with R = 0.9 coatings, is described herein.

DOI: 10.1364/igwo.1980.mb5

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Optical signal processing using all-optical circuitry is an increasingly attractive goal with the recent progress in long- lived light sources, high quantum efficiency detectors, and low- loss high-bandwidth optical fibers. Devices which permit one light beam to control another or which provide an optical memory afford a capability essential to the success of all-optical logic systems. Much progress has been made toward practical bistable1 devices since the first observation2 of optical bistability in sodium vapor. (By optical bistability we refer to devices containing no inverted medium, so that bistable lasers3 are explicitly excluded.) The most practical device so far, a semiconductor etalon consisting of 4 μm of GaAs between 0.2 μm of Al0.42Ga0.53As with R = 0.9 coatings, is described herein.

In this paper we present the basic principles of optical bistability and summarize the current advances in semiconductor optical switching, with emphasis on recent results in GaAs, CuCI, InAs, InSb, CdS, ZnS, and ZnSe etalons. These devices have great potential for applications involving optical signal processing and computing. As an example, we discuss the use of arrays of bistable devices for parallel optical processing and for addressable spatial light modulators. The use of nonlinear etalons as optical gates is also illustrated. To date, GaAs devices have shown the most favorable characteristics for practical applications. They operate at room temperature with a few milliwatts of power using a laser diode as the only light source. Quasi-cw operation and optical fiber signal regeneration have also been demonstrated. A GaAs NOR gate operates in 1 ps with <3 pJ incident energy; this, of course, implies a 1 ps switch-on time for a bistable etalon.

Optical bistable devices may someday be the key elements of all-optical logic and computing systems.1 Semiconductor devices appear particularly promising because of very large optical nonlinearities permitting the construction of very small devices. The goal is to develop small (≃ 1 μm), fast (≃ 1 ps), low-power (≃ 1 μW), high-temperature (≃ 300 K) devices. Herein is reported room-temperature operation of GaAs devices that are similar in size, speed, and power to the low-temperature pure-GaAs device.2

This article describes the application of one type of optical bistable device based on gallium arsenide as the nonlinear medium. The authors discuss several possible operations with GaAs nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalons. This article utilizes a recently developed computer model to illustrate the basic operating principles and applications. The authors mainly concentrate on the device operation itself. In keeping with common practice they use the term optical bistable device when referring to a device that can exhibit optical bistability even when not being used in such a manner. Instead of the expression nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalon, they often use nonlinear etalons or etalon devices.

Optical bistability has been observed in a semiconductor for the first time. The bistable etalon consists of a GaAlAs-GaAs-GaAlAs molecular-beam-epitaxially-grown sandwich with 90% reflectivity coatings. The bistability is primarily dispersive with the nonlinear refractive index arising from light-induced changes in exciton absorption. Using light of frequency just below the exciton peak, we observed bistability from 5 to 120 °K with 40-ns turn-off and subnanosecond turn-on times with 1 mW/μm2 holding intensity.

Intrinsic optical bistable devices have the potential for very fast all-optical logic.1 Achievement of high speeds necessitates short devices. Semiconductors are attractive materials for providing the essential optical nonlinearity because they can have absorption coefficients of order (μm)-1, ensuring strong interactions in short lengths. Furthermore, they have relatively sharp absorption features, e.g., an exciton, biexciton, or band-edge resonance, which permits very large nonlinear phase shifts via near-resonance enhancement but with low absorption by off-resonance operation.