REGENERATIVE PULSATIONS IN SEMICONDUCTOR ETALON DUE TO COMPETITION BETWEEN CARRIER GENERATION AND HEATING EFFECTS ON BAND FILLING

Competition between carrier concentration and effective temperature ef fects on the dielectric function of a degenerate semiconductor in a sp ectral range near its fundamental absorption edge is suggested as a me chanism for regenerative pulsations in a stationary pumped optical eta lon. The origin of self-pulsations is similar to that in a bistable et alon with competing concentration and thermal optical nonlinearities, but, due to its purely electronic nature, the proposed mechanism provi des a way for a much higher repetition frequency, probably in the GHz range. The model of the phenomenon and modeling examples are all relat ed to a Fabry-Perot resonator filled with the bulk n(+)-In0.53Ga0.47As as an active medium. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.