Semiconductor device and method for its operation
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorAndrew J. Shields
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Abstract
An optical modulator according to the present invention comprises an optical guide region including a quantum well layer, a waveguide structure defining an optical path of the guide region, a gate situated below the guide region for changing the carrier density in the quantum well layer, an electrical contact for said gate and at least one other electrical contact.
Claims8
A bistable optical element comprising an optical path region including a plurality of quantum well layers alternating with respective barrier layers of higher bandgap semiconductor material than the quantum well layers, for providing bistability in the emergent intensity of an optical beam transmitted through the optical path region, wherein photon energy of incident light to be modulated is in a range of an absorption profile of a charged exciton, and for certain input powers of the incident light, two possible values of transmitted light intensity are possible, depending on a value of previous incident light intensity, and further comprising a light source for providing the optical beam, and wherein the light source has a wavelength such that the photon energy corresponds to or is in the region of the energy of charged excitons.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.