Abstract
The possibility of forming a photon avalanche in type-I heterostructures with deep quantum wells is investigated. For the heterostructure energy-level diagram considered here, the threshold intensities of IR light that cause an avalanche are about 10<sup>5</sup> W/cm<sup>2</sup>. It is shown that the photon-avalanche mechanism can be used to generate nonequilibrium electron-hole pairs with weak IR light having a photon energy a factor of 4-5 less than the band gap in the barrier region. The energies to switch the system between states with strong and weak absorption of the pump light range from tenths to a few picojoules per square micrometer.
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.
Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription