Simulation of the generation of ultrafast midinfrared laser pulses

Author

Elezzabi, Abdulhakem Y. ; Meyer, Jochen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC, Canada

Volume

28

Issue

8

fYear

1992

fDate

8/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1830

Lastpage

1834

Abstract

A numerical simulation of an ultrafast semiconductor switch for 10.6 μm CO₂ radiation is presented. It is based on the solution of the Helmholtz electromagnetic wave equation for p-polarized light and the ambipolar diffusion equation. Calculations are performed in various time dependent inhomogeneous plasma profiles. The analysis shows that the temporal reflectivity depends on the initial visible radiation fluence, duration, and diffusion coefficient of the sample. The results support the feasibility of generating midinfrared ultrashort pulses between 100 fs and 65 ps. By proper choice of the laser fluence and the semiconductor material, longer pulses are also possible

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; high-speed optical techniques; laser beams; optical switches; reflectivity; semiconductor switches; 10.6 micron; 65 to 100 fs; CO₂; GaAs; Helmholtz electromagnetic wave equation; ambipolar diffusion equation; diffusion coefficient; laser fluence; mid IR laser pulse generation; numerical simulation; p-polarized light; semiconductor material; temporal reflectivity; time dependent inhomogeneous plasma profiles; ultrafast midinfrared laser pulses; ultrafast semiconductor switch; visible radiation fluence; Electromagnetic scattering; Equations; Numerical simulation; Optical pulse generation; Plasma materials processing; Plasma simulation; Plasma waves; Reflectivity; Semiconductor lasers; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.142581

Filename

142581