Ultrafast all-optical switching in semiconductor nonlinear directional couplers at half the band gap

Efficient ultrafast all-optical switching in nonlinear directional couplers made of AlGaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells near half the band gap is reported. The switching is limited by multiphoton absorption which is dominated by three-photon absorption in this spectral range. The three-photon absor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 1992-07, Vol.61 (2), p.147-149
Main Authors: VILLENEUVE, A, YANG, C. C, WIGLEY, P. G. J, STEGEMAN, G. I, AITCHISON, J. S, IRONSIDE, C. N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Circuit properties
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Integrated optics. Optical fibers and wave guides
Optical and optoelectronic circuits
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Efficient ultrafast all-optical switching in nonlinear directional couplers made of AlGaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells near half the band gap is reported. The switching is limited by multiphoton absorption which is dominated by three-photon absorption in this spectral range. The three-photon absorption in the quantum well nonlinear directional coupler is stronger than that of bulk AlGaAs. Autocorrelations of the output pulses in the bar and cross states confirm pulse breakup through nonlinear coupling, and illustrate the effects of multiphoton absorption. All sets of experimental data are fitted well by a theoretical model.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.108200