Ultrafast Optical Response of a High-Reflectivity GaAs/AlAs Bragg Mirror
Abstract
The ultrafast response of a high-reflectivity GaAs/AlAs Bragg mirror to optical pumping is investigated for all-optical switching applications. Both Kerr and free carrier nonlinearities are induced with 100 fs, 780 nm pulses with a fluence of 0.64 kJ/m^2 and 0.8 kJ/m^2. The absolute transmission of the mirror at 931 nm increases by a factor of 27 from 0.0024% to 0.065% on a picosecond timescale. These results demonstrate the potential for a high-reflectivity ultrafast switchable mirror for quantum optics and optical communication applications. A design is proposed for a structure to be pumped below the bandgaps of the semiconductor mirror materials. Theoretical calculations on this structure show switching ratios up to 2200 corresponding to switching from 0.017% to 37.4% transmission.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0411312,
title = {Ultrafast Optical Response of a High-Reflectivity GaAs/AlAs Bragg Mirror},
author = {Sara R. Hastings and Michiel J. A. de Dood and Hyochul Kim and William Marshall and Hagai S. Eisenberg and Dirk Bouwmeester},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0411312},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letters