Resolution limits of photorefractive MQW devices

Summary form only given. Photorefractive multiple-quantum-well (MQW) devices, attractive for two-dimensional optical information processing systems, have shown poor resolution, mostly due to lateral drift. Adding traps throughout the MQW layer improves the resolution. This paper demonstrates that low-temperature (LT) grown quantum wells can reach the fundamental resolution limit, which we have theoretically derived. Furthermore, because traps reduce the diffraction efficiency by reducing longitudinal transport, we have also investigated geometries that utilize conductive MQW with several localized trapping layers. The devices are based on a p-i-n structure grown on a Bragg reflector, with an intrinsic layer that contains MQW sandwiched between LT AlGaAs cladding layers.