OSA's Digital Library

Optics Express

Optics Express

  • Editor: C. Martijn de Sterke
  • Vol. 15, Iss. 26 — Dec. 24, 2007
  • pp: 17922–17927

Optics InfoBase > Optics Express > Volume 15 > Issue 26 > Page 17922

Ultrafast all-optical switching with low saturation energy via intersubband transitions in GaN/AlN quantum-well waveguides

Yan Li, Anirban Bhattacharyya, Christos Thomidis, Theodore D. Moustakas, and Roberto Paiella  »View Author Affiliations


Optics Express, Vol. 15, Issue 26, pp. 17922-17927 (2007)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.15.017922


View Full Text Article

Enhanced HTML    Acrobat PDF (160 KB)


Advanced Search

Browse Journals / Lookup Meetings

Browse by Journal and Year


   


Lookup Conference Papers

Close Browse Journals / Lookup Meetings

Article Tools

Share
Citations

Abstract

A fiber-optic pump-probe setup is used to demonstrate all-optical switching based on intersubband cross-absorption modulation in GaN/AlN quantum-well waveguides, with record low values of the required control pulse energy. In particular, a signal modulation depth of 10 dB is obtained with control pulse energies as small as 38 pJ. Such low power requirements for this class of materials are mainly ascribed to an optimized design of the waveguide structure. At the same time, the intersubband absorption fully recovers from the control-pulse-induced saturation on a picosecond time scale, so that these nonlinear waveguide devices are suitable for all-optical switching at bit rates of several hundred Gb/s.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

OCIS Codes
(190.5970) Nonlinear optics : Semiconductor nonlinear optics including MQW
(230.7370) Optical devices : Waveguides

ToC Category:
Nonlinear Optics

History
Original Manuscript: October 17, 2007
Revised Manuscript: December 12, 2007
Manuscript Accepted: December 13, 2007
Published: December 17, 2007

Citation
Yan Li, Anirban Bhattacharyya, Christos Thomidis, Theodore D. Moustakas, and Roberto Paiella, "Ultrafast all-optical switching with low saturation energy via intersubband transitions in GaN/AlN quantum-well waveguides," Opt. Express 15, 17922-17927 (2007)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-15-26-17922


Sort:  Author  |  Year  |  Journal  |  Reset  

References

  1. A. V. Gopal, H. Yoshida, A. Neogi, N. Georgiev, T. Mozume, T. Simoyama, O. Wada, and H. Ishikawa, "Intersubband absorption saturation in InGaAs-AlAsSb quantum wells," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38, 1515-1520 (2002). [CrossRef]
  2. G. W. Cong, R. Akimoto, K. Akita, T. Hasama, and H. Ishikawa, "Low-saturation-energy-driven ultrafast all-optical switching operation in (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe intersubband transition," Opt. Express 15, 12123-12130 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  3. C. Gmachl, H. M. Ng, S.-N. G. Chu, and A. Y. Cho, "Intersubband absorption at ? ~ 1.55 ?m in well- and modulation-doped GaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells with superlattice barriers," Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 3722-3724 (2000). [CrossRef]
  4. N. Iizuka, K. Kaneko, and N. Suzuki, "Near-infrared intersubband absorption in GaN/AlN quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy," Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 1803-1805 (2002). [CrossRef]
  5. R. Rapaport, G. Chen, O. Mitrofanov, C. Gmachl, H. M. Ng, and S. N. G. Chu, "Resonant optical nonlinearities from intersubband transitions in GaN/AlN quantum wells," Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 263-265 (2003). [CrossRef]
  6. J. Hamazaki, S. Matsui, H. Kunugita, K. Ema, H. Kanazawa, T. Tachibana, A. Kikuchi, and K. Kishino, "Ultrafast intersubband relaxation and nonlinear susceptibility at 1.55 ?m in GaN/AlN multiple-quantum wells," Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 1102-1104 (2004). [CrossRef]
  7. I. Friel, K. Driscoll, E. Kulenica, M. Dutta, R. Paiella, and T. D. Moustakas, "Investigation of the design parameters of AlN/GaN multiple quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy for intersubband absorption," J. Cryst. Growth. 278, 387-392 (2005). [CrossRef]
  8. M. Tchernycheva, L. Nevou, L. Doyennette, F. H. Julien, E. Warde, F. Guillot, E. Monroy, E. Bellet-Amalric, T. Remmele, and M. Albrecht, "Systematic experimental and theoretical investigation of intersubband absorption in GaN/AlN quantum wells," Phys. Rev. B 73, 125347 (2006). [CrossRef]
  9. M. Tchernycheva, L. Nevou, L. Doyennette, F. H. Julien, F. Guillot, E. Monroy, T. Remmele, and M. Albrecht, "Electron confinement in strongly coupled GaN/AlN quantum wells," Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 153113 (2006). [CrossRef]
  10. K. Driscoll, A. Bhattacharyya, T. D. Moustakas, R. Paiella, L. Zhou, and D. J. Smith, "Intersubband absorption in AlN/GaN/AlGaN coupled quantum wells," Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 141104 (2007). [CrossRef]
  11. D. Hofstetter, S.-S. Schad, H. Wu, W.J. Schaff, and L.F. Eastman, "GaN/AlN-based quantum-well infrared photodetector for 1.55 ?m," Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 572-574 (2003). [CrossRef]
  12. E. Baumann, F.R. Giorgetta, D. Hofstetter, S. Leconte, F. Guillot, E. Bellet-Amalric, and E. Monroy, "Electrically adjustable intersubband absorption of a GaN/AlN superlattice grown on a transistorlike structure," Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 101121 (2006). [CrossRef]
  13. L. Nevou, F. H. Julien, R. Colombelli, F. Guillot, and E. Monroy, "Room-temperature intersubband emission of GaN/AlN quantum wells at ?=2.3 ?m," Electron. Lett. 42, 1308-1309 (2006). [CrossRef]
  14. N. Iizuka, K. Kaneko, and N. Suzuki, "All-optical switch utilizing intersubband transition in GaN quantum wells," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 42, 765-771 (2006). [CrossRef]
  15. Y. Li, A. Bhattacharyya, C. Thomidis, T. D. Moustakas, and R. Paiella, "Nonlinear optical waveguides based on near-infrared intersubband transitions in GaN/AlN quantum wells," Opt. Express 15, 5860-5865 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  16. http://www.rsoftdesign.com/products/component_design/BeamPROP/
  17. R. Hui, S. Taherion, Y. Wan, J. Li, S. X. Jin, J. Y. Lin, and H. X. Jiang, "GaN-based waveguide devices for long-wavelength optical communications," Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 1326-1328 (2003). [CrossRef]
  18. B. E. A. Saleh and M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics (Wiley, 2007), Chap. 14.
  19. Y. Li and R. Paiella, "Intersubband all-optical switching based on Coulomb-induced optical nonlinearities in GaN/AlGaN coupled quantum wells," Semicond. Sci. Technol. 21, 1105-1110 (2006). [CrossRef]
  20. G. Sun, J. B. Khurgin, and R. A. Soref, "Nonlinear all-optical GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum-well devices for 100 Gb/s applications at ? = 1.55 ?m," Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 201108 (2005). [CrossRef]

Cited By

 Alert me when this paper is cited

OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. CrossRef includes content from more than 3000 publishers and societies. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.

Figures

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.
 

« Previous Article  |  Next Article »

OSA is a member of CrossRef.

CrossCheck Deposited