학술논문

Polarization dynamics induced by the "virtual excitation" of spin-polarized carriers: applications to all-optical polarization switching
Document Type
Conference
Source
Summaries of Papers Presented at the Lasers and Electro-Optics. CLEO '02. Technical Diges Lasers and electro-optics Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2002. CLEO '02. Technical Digest. Summaries of Papers Presented at the. :657-658 vol.1 2002
Subject
Photonics and Electrooptics
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Optical polarization
Quantum well devices
Resonance
Optical switches
Excitons
Optical pulse generation
Pulse generation
Signal generators
Signal analysis
Performance analysis
Language
Abstract
Summary from only given. Recently we have demonstrated an optically-addressed coherent polarization switch that is based on the near-resonant excitation of a spin-polarized population of virtual excitons in MQWs. By taking advantage of the nonlinearities associated with a virtual carrier population, this near resonant device exhibits a pulse-width-limited response; by operating near resonance it is capable of producing relatively large contrast ratios in thin samples; and finally, by generating a spin-polarized carrier population, the device produces a rotation of the signal polarization in unstrained MQWs. Here, we experimentally analyze the switching mechanisms by systematically performing spectrally and temporally resolved differential transmission measurements and by fully determining the polarization state of the transmitted signal as a function of time delay.