GAAS/GAALAS GRADED INDEX SEPARATE CONFINEMENT SINGLE QUANTUM-WELL SINGLE-MODE WAVE-GUIDE ELECTROABSORPTION LIGHT-MODULATOR

A GaAs/GaAlAs graded-index separate confinement single quantum well heterostructure single-mode ridge waveguide electroabsorption modulator was fabricated and investigated. For the modulator with a quantum well width of 100 angstrom and device length of 700-mu-m, an on/off ratio of 29.7 dB and estimated absorption insertion loss of 3 dB were obtained for TE polarised light with wavelength 8650 angstrom, and for TM polarisation the on/off ratio was 28.5 dB. With a switching voltage of 1 V, an on/off ratio of 15 dB was achieved. Photocurrent spectra exhibited a red shift of 600 angstrom of the absorption edge when the voltage applied to the PIN diode was varied from 0.5 to -7 V. The corresponding shift of the room temperature exciton peak energy was 96 meV.

OPTICAL-PHONON MODES AND FROHLICH POTENTIAL IN ONE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM-WELL WIRES

By extending our microscopic model on optical-phonon modes in quantum wells to one-dimensional (1D) quantum-well wires (QWW), the optical displacements and associated electrostatic potentials of optical-phonon modes in 1D QWW are calculated. The modes can be clearly divided into confined LO bulklike, TO bulklike modes, and extended interfacelike modes provided the bulk phonon dispersion is ignored. The character of each type of mode is illustrated with special attention to the interfacelike modes, which are hybrids of longitudinal- and transverse-optical waves from the corresponding bulk materials. Based on the numerical results, approximate analytical formulas for bulklike modes are presented. As in 2D wells, both the optical displacements and Frohlich potentials for the bulklike modes vanish at the interfaces. The finite dispersion of bulk phonons has a more pronounced effect on the 1D phonon modes because interfacelike modes show mixed characteristics of 2D interface and bulklike modes.