Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

HL: Halbleiterphysik

HL 20: Photonische Kristalle IV

HL 20.9: Talk

Tuesday, March 9, 2004, 17:15–17:30, H17

Light control mediated by electron-hole transport in GaAs photonic cavities — •M. M. de Lima, Jr., R. Hey, J. A. H. Stotz, and P. V Santos — Paul-Drude-Institut, Berlin

Most investigations concerning photonic structures have addressed the control of light flow by structuring a dielectric medium. We demonstrate an alternative concept for photon control based on the manipulation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs by surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in photonic structures. Specifically, photogenerated carriers in a microcavity containing (In,Ga)As quantum wells are transported over long distances (>100 µm) at room temperature by the SAW piezoelectric field. The photons are then retrieved after the transport by inducing electron-hole recombination. The important aspect is that the recombination (and thus the photon emission) sites are determined by a switch composed of orthogonal SAW beams, which can be used as a basic control gate for optical information processing based on ambipolar transport.