Abstract
The development of electro-optical (EO) modulators, filters, and switches for the mid-wave and long-wave infrared (MWIR and LWIR) spectral regions currently remains at a rather primitive stage in comparison to the near-IR modulators now being intensively developed for fiber-optic communications, optoelectronic interconnects, and other large-volume applications. Here we propose a highly flexible asymmetric double-quantum-well (ADQW) design employing intersubband interactions either at normal incidence or in a waveguide-mode geometry. The device operation is based on an electrically controlled real-space and momentum-space transfer of electrons between a quantum well whose conduction-band minimum is at the Γ-point and a second well whose minimum is at the L-point. We predict MWIR and LWIR EO coefficients and device figures of merit comparable to those associated with the excitonic quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) used in interband modulators operating at shorter wavelengths.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
H. Yoshida, T. Tezuka, Y. Ashizawa, and M. Nakamura
P49 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Pacific Rim (CLEO/PR) 1995
S. Ten, M. F. Krol, B. P. McGinnis, M. J. Hayduk, G. Khitrova, and N. Peyghambarian
UMB4 Ultrafast Electronics and Optoelectronics (UEO) 1995
J.-Z. Zhang and D. Allsopp
JWA48 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2008