Abstract

The strain-induced change of energy levels in semiconductors can result in novel structures with improved optical properties.^1,2 Previous measurements indicate that such improvement may have reduced the threshold of InGaAs QW lasers compared to their GaAs/ AIGaAs counterparts,^3,4 but these results are not easily quantified because of the difficulty in separating the intrinsic material properties and that of the optical cavity. Here we report a direct experimental study of optical nonlinearities in InGaAs/CaAs strained-layer MQWs, and compare the results with that of unstrained GaAs/ AlGaAs MQWs. We also demonstrate a high-contrast submilliwatt-power modulator using the nonlinearities of the strained quantum well.

© 1992 Optical Society of America