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All-optical switches based on GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots vertical cavity
Author(s)
Ismail, F. D.
Jomtarak, R.
Teeka, C.
Ali, J.
Yupapin, P. P.
Date Issued
January 1, 2011
Type
Article
Abstract
In this paper, an all-optical switch based on self-assembled GaAs/AlAs quantum dots (QDs) within a vertical cavity is designed and proposed. Two essential aspects of this novel device have been investigated, which include the QD/cavity nonlinearity with appropriately designed mirrors and the intersubband carrier dynamics inside QDs. The vertical-reflection-type switches have been investigated with an asymmetric cavity that consists of 12 periods of GaAs/Al0.8Ga0.2As and 25 periods for the front and back mirrors, respectively. The thicknesses of the GaAs and AlGaAs layers are chosen to be 89 and 102 nm, respectively. To give a dot-in-a-well (DWELL) structure, the 65 nm dimension of Si was recommended to deposit within a 20 nm AlAs QW. Results obtained have shown that all-optical switching via the QD excited states has been achieved with a time constant down to 275-fs and over 29.5 nm tunable wavelengths. These results demonstrated that QDs within a vertical cavity have great potential to realize low-power, consumption polarization-insensitive and micrometer-sized switching devices for future optical communication and signal processing systems. © 2011 World Scientific Publishing Company.
Citation
Journal of Nonlinear Optical Physics and Materials, 20(2), 205-215, 2011