Carrier-induced change in refractive index of InP, GaAs and InGaAsP

Author

Bennett, Brian R. ; Soref, Richard A. ; del Alamo, Jesís A.

Author_Institution

Rome Air Dev. Center, Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA, USA

Volume

26

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

1/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

113

Lastpage

122

Abstract

The change in refractive index Δn produced by injection of free carriers in InP, GaAs, and InGaAsP is theoretically estimated. Bandfilling (Burstein-Moss effect), bandgap shrinkage, and free-carrier absorption (plasma effect) are included. Carrier concentrations of 10¹⁶/cm³ to 10¹⁹/cm ³ and photon energies of 0.8 to 2.0 eV are considered. Predictions for Δn are in reasonably good agreement with the limited experimental data available. Refractive index changes as large as 10^-2 are predicted for carrier concentrations of 10 ⁸/cm³ suggested that low-loss optical phase modulators and switches using carrier injection are feasible in these materials

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; carrier density; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; optical losses; optical modulation; optical switches; refractive index; 0.8 to 2.0 eV; Burstein-Moss effect; GaAs; InGaAsP; InP; bandfilling; bandgap shrinkage; carrier concentrations; carrier induced changes; free carrier injection; free carriers; free-carrier absorption; low-loss optical phase modulators; optical switches; photon energies; plasma effect; refractive index; refractive index change; Absorption; Estimation theory; Gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; Optical modulation; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Photonic band gap; Plasmas; Refractive index;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.44924

Filename

44924