Abstract

We describe a novel contact-free quantum-well (QW) light modulator. It is designed to operate all optically in the sense that an incident write laser beam strongly modulates a second read beam resonant to a QW exciton. Essential to this device is the fact that in strained semiconductor heterostructures grown along a polar axis, such as, for example, [111], the lattice-mismatch-induced strain generates a large piezoelectric field along the growth axis.¹ The magnitude of the piezoelectric field can exceed 10⁵ V/cm for rather moderate lattice-mismatch strains of ε ~ 0.7%.²

© 1995 Optical Society of America