OPTICAL BISTABILITY AT 980 NM IN A STRAINED INGAAS GAAS MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL MICROCAVITY WITH RESONANT PERIODIC NONLINEARITY

We report on a novel monolithic all-optical bistable device operating at 980 nm, based on the dispersive optical nonlinearity of strained In GaAs/GaAs quantum wells located at the antinodes of the microcavity op tical field. This design maximizes the interaction with the intracavit y field and allowed to use only twelve quantum wells of 10 nm thicknes s. The first observation of all-optical bistability with strained InGa As/GaAs quantum wells is reported, with a contrast ratio of 7:1 and a threshold intensity of 1 kW/cm2. The operating wavelength offers key a dvantages such as the substrate transparency and compatibility with ve rtical cavity surface emitting lasers.