Abstract

Optoelectronic effects in MQW structures, for optical modulators and switches, have attracted wide interest because of their potential applications in high speed signal processing⁽¹⁾. Due to the Quantum Confined Stark effect, a red shift of the absorption edge is expected in such quantum well devices in the presence of an orthogonally applied electric field. This mechanism presents the possibility of high speed electrically and optically addressed switches compatible with semiconductor processing technology⁽²⁾. In addition to discrete devices, GaAs based MQW SLMs with Charge Couple Device (CCD) addressing have been demonstrated, successfully operating with contrast ratios of 1.45 to 1 at room temperature⁽³⁾. In these structures, CCD channels have been used to input the data, and in turn, program the electric field across the surface of the semiconductor. In this way, potentially high speed multi-giga-bit data rate light modulation could be achieved in areal arrays without the problems of directly electrically accessing each pixel.

© 1990 Optical Society of America