A Two-Dimensional hot electron electro-optic effect in GaAs/(Al,Ga)As multiple quantum wells

✍ Scribed by Elias Towe; Decai Sun; Leonid E. Vorobjev; Sergey N. Danilov; Dmitry A. Firsov; Evgeny A. Zibik

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 180 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-6036
• DOI: 10.1006/spmi.1995.1025

✦ Synopsis

The optical absorption characteristics of an (n)-type (\mathrm{GaAs} / \mathrm{Al}{0.22} \mathrm{Ga}{0.78}) As modulationdoped multiple quantum well structure are investigated. Results for the variation of absorption for intra- and inter-subband transitions for the hot two-dimensional electron gas are presented. Under the action of a strong electric field applied parallel to the epitaxial layers, it is found that optical radiation from a (\mathrm{CO}_{2}) laser emitting at (9.6 \mu \mathrm{m}) and (10.6 \mu \mathrm{m}) is absorbed differently for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the epitaxial growth axis. This difference in hot electron absorption-which is a manifestation of an optical birefringence-can be quantified with help of the Kramers-Kronig relation which relates the variation of the index of refraction with the absorption coefficient for the two polarizations. A mechanism for this hot electron electro-optic effect is suggested.