POLARIZATION ANISOTROPY OF ORDERED GAINP IN OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES

The polarization anisotropy of ordered GaInP has teen studied in elect roluminescence and electroabsorption and has been applied to some opto electronic device structures, operating at lambda approximate to 670 n m. Surface-emitting light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been fabricated which show a polarized light output. A contrast ratio of up to 2.0 dB has been observed between light emission which is linearly polarized a long the [011] and [01-1] crystal directions, respectively. In the ele ctroabsorption, an ordering-induced shift of the Franz-Keldysh spectra of up to 13 meV has been observed. This has been used to change the t ransmitted light intensity ratio between [011] and [01-1] polarized li ght from 0.2 to 2.8 dB by applying an electric field of 335 kV cm(-1). We have applied this polarization anisotropy of the absorption coeffi cient to realize polarization detectors, polarization threshold switch es and polarization photo-transistors with a switching contrast of abo ut 25 dB and sensitivities of about 0.24 dB deg(-1).