Abstract

The nonlinear optical properties of active semiconductor waveguides are of great interest both in terms of physics and possible applications¹ to high-speed devices, such as light modulators and nonlinear directional couplers (NLDCs). Previously, a good deal of effort has been made to reduce the recovery time and the absorption loss of the NLDC. Recent studies of semiconductor-laser diodes showed a large optical nonlinearity with very short recovery time at the transparency point of the active medium.² This paper reports an ultrafast and low energy switching behavior in a current injected GaAs/AlGaAs MQW strip-loaded NLDC operated similarly.

© 1994 Optical Society of America