III-V Modulation and Switching Devices for Optical Systems Applications

摘要

The thrust for this three year program has been to develop novel devices andsystems applications for multiple quantum well based devices. We have investigated architectures based upon the quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE), a means by which excitonic resonances in a quantum well are electric field tuned to shift the peaked absorption spectrum of the material. This devices based upon this concept have been used, in the past, to realize switching structures employing the characteristic negative differential resistance available in PIN-MQW diodes under illumination. We have focuses, primarily on three schemes based upon the QCSE, to extend the utility of quantum well based devices. Firstly, we have developed, tested and optimized a novel tunable optical filter for wavelength selective applications. Secondly, we have demonstrated an MQW based scheme for optical pattern recognition which we have applied towards header recognition in a packet switching network environment. Thirdly, we have extended previous MQW based switching schemes to implement an optical read only memory (ROM) which can store two bits of information on a single sight, read by two different probe wavelengths of light. (MM).