Current-directionality-induced giant absorption dichroism in III-V semiconductors and its potential for polarization control in vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers

B S Ryvkin, E A Avrutin, A C Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We theoretically analyze the effect of current-directionality induced dichroism of fundamental absorption in III-V semiconductors with a high nonequilibrium carrier density. Band filling is shown to provide giant values of relative absorption difference for two orthogonal polarizations near the transparency point. Self-adjustment of the transparency point to the incident photon energy due to absorption saturation at high incident optical powers leads to large absorption dichroism in a broad spectral range. The situation we model is relevant to polarization modulation in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes. A specialized laser construction to achieve this purpose is proposed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3516-3521
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume91
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2002

Keywords

  • VCSELS
  • DEPENDENCE
  • FIELD
  • GAAS

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