A microelectromechanically tunable asymmetric Fabry-Perot quantum well modulator at 1.55 microm.
Placing a quantum well modulator in an asymmetric Fabry- Perot cavity enables significantly higher contrast ratios than are possible in a conventional surface-normal quantum well modulator. However, fixed-cavity asymmetric Fabry-Perot quantum well modulators require extremely precise and uniform crystal growth and are sensitive to small fluctuations in temperature or angle of incidence. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an InP-based microelectromechanically tunable asymmetric Fabry-Perot quantum well modulator that operates in the optical C-band. By actuating a suspended InGaAlAs reflector, the cavity mode can be perfectly matched to the appropriate quantum well absorption wavelength. The devices exhibit contrast ratios over 30 (15 dB) at 8 volts quantum well bias and modulation speeds of 1 MHz.
1Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA. stievater@nrl.navy.mil
T H
TH
Stievater
D
D
Park
M W
MW
Pruessner
W S
WS
Rabinovich
S
S
Kanakaraju
C J K
CJ
Richardson
D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008904:Miniaturization; D055096:Optical Devices; D045663:Quantum Dots