Abstract

Normal incidence (transverse) type of multiple quantum well (MQW) optical modulator is attractive for providing a large area in coupling the light in and out of the device and application in vertical opto-electronic integrating technology.¹ However, this type of modulator is limited by a relatively long optical interaction path and a high driving voltage requirement. These discrepancies can be highly improved by introducing the transverse type of symmetric Fabry-Perot (FP) structure in the vertical optical cavity on a substrate, where an intrinsic-MQW layer is sandwiched between two reflectors, this will increase the effective optical interaction length and reduce the applied voltage swing.² A thermally (post-process annealing) diffused QW (DFQW)³ is proposed here as an intrinsic material in the symmetric-FP vertical cavity for improving the modulator performance and to provide an operational wavelength tuning range. It is expected that this DFQWs based FP modulator will become an important candidate for the vertical integrating technology. The electro-optical property of the DFQW FP-cavity modulator is analyzed here for its transmission strength T and field induced transmission change ΔT.

© 1995 IEEE