Abstract

We report room- and low-temperature (10-K) electroabsorption measurements in N × N arrays of individually addressable superlattice electroabsorption modulators based on Wannier–Stark carrier localization. Our data exhibit excellent array uniformity over an area encompassing several hundred modulators. We demonstrated electroabsorption changes as large as |Δα| ≃ 22 000 cm⁻¹, electrorefraction changes as large as |Δn| ≃ 0.1 (corresponding to a π/2 phase shift for an ≈2-μm-thick superlattice), optical bistability with contrast ratios >6:1, and relaxation self-oscillations (oscillatory amplitude modulation of an incident cw beam) in an inductive electro-optic circuit. We developed the capability of demonstrating a new electro-optical component technology for integrating two-dimensional source arrays with ultralow-energy optical switching arrays.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

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