Competition between electronic Kerr and free carrier effects in an ultimate fast switched semiconductor microcavity

E. Yuce, Georgios Ctistis, Julien Claudon, Emmanuel Dupuy, Klaus J. Boller, Jean-Michel Gérard, Willem L. Vos

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Abstract

We have performed ultrafast pump-probe experiments on a GaAs-AlAs microcavity with a resonance near 1300 nm in the “original” telecom band. We concentrate on ultimate-fast optical switching of the cavity resonance that is measured as a function of pump-pulse energy. We observe that at low pump-pulse energies the switching of the cavity resonance is governed by the instantaneous electronic Kerr effect and is achieved within 300 fs. At high pump-pulse energies the index change induced by free carriers generated in the GaAs start to compete with the electronic Kerr effect and reduce the resonance frequency shift. We have developed an analytic model which predicts this competition in agreement with the experimental data. Our model includes a new term in the intensity-dependent refractive index that considers the effect of the probe pulse intensity, which is resonantly enhanced by the cavity. We calculate the effect of the resonantly enhanced probe light on the refractive index change induced by the electronic Kerr effect for cavities with different quality factors. By exploiting the linear regime where only the electronic Kerr effect is observed, we manage to retrieve the nondegenerate third order nonlinear susceptibility χ(3) for GaAs from the cavity resonance shift as a function of pump-pulse energy.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCLEO/Europe and EQEC 2011 Conference Digest, OSA Technical Digest (CD) (Optical Society of America, 2011)
Place of PublicationMunich, Germany
PublisherOptical Society of America
Pages4-35
Number of pages30
Publication statusPublished - 2011
EventEuropean Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the XIIth European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO®/Europe-EQEC) 2009: Explore Innovation. Build Applications. - Baltimore Convention Center, Munich, Germany
Duration: 22 May 201126 May 2011

Publication series

Name6
PublisherThe Optical Society
VolumeCK6

Conference

ConferenceEuropean Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the XIIth European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO®/Europe-EQEC) 2009
Abbreviated titleCLEO-Europe/EQEC 2011
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityMunich
Period22/05/1126/05/11

Keywords

  • METIS-286551
  • IR-80559

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