Bhp. Dorren et al., Electrorefraction in strained InGaAs/InP chopped quantum wells: Significance of the interface layers, J APPL PHYS, 87(5), 2000, pp. 2331-2335
We present a model for electrorefraction based on the quantum confined Star
k effect (QCSE) in strained InGaAs/InP chopped quantum wells (CQWs) consist
ing of three 27 Angstrom InGaAs wells separated by 15 Angstrom InP barriers
. The model fully takes into account the influence of the thin interface la
yers around each well. We experimentally verify the model on a InGaAs/InP C
QW which combines a large 60 meV QCSE redshift at 11.7 V bias with waveguid
e transparency at 1.55 mu m, which is two times larger than in a InGaAsP qu
aternary well. The calculated electroabsorption spectra of the CQWs are in
good agreement with experiment. We finally applied the Kramers-Kronig trans
formations for calculating the switching voltage in a Mach-Zehnder switch e
mploying CQWs in the phase shifting section. The model was found to be in g
ood agreement with experiment for both polarizations. (C) 2000 American Ins
titute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)08005-1].