Fabry-Perot reflectance modulator for 1.3 μm from (InAlGa)As materials grown at low temperature

• Published in: Applied physics letters 1993-03, Vol.62 (9), p.919-921
• Main Authors: FRITZ, I. J, HAMMONS, B. E, HOWARD, A. J, BRENNAN, T. M, OLSEN, J. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Optical elements, devices, and systems; Optical processors, correlators, and modulators; Optics; Physics
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.108519

We report the first all-semiconductor Fabry–Perot-cavity reflectance modulators operating at wavelengths of 1.32–1.33 μm. These devices were grown on a GaAs substrate using an intermediate, linearly graded InGaAs buffer layer terminating in an In0.33Ga0.67As layer. The Bragg reflector stacks of the Fabry–Perot structure are composed of InGaAs and InAlAs layers lattice matched to the buffer, and the active cavity region is an In0.4Ga0.6As/In0.26Al0.35Ga0.39As strained-layer superlattice. The key to obtaining device-quality material was low temperature growth (∼400 °C) of the entire structure. For a device with a 0.38-μm-thick active region and a 4 dB insertion loss, we obtained a contrast ratio of ∼3:1 at 4 V bias.