Pulse capture without carrier absorption in dynamic Q photonic crystal nanocavities

作者:Upham Jeremy*; Inoue Hiroki; Tanaka Yoshinori; Stumpf Wolfgang; Kojima Kazunobu; Asano Takashi; Noda Susumu
来源:Optics Express, 2014, 22(13): 15459-15466.
DOI:10.1364/OE.22.015459

摘要

We develop a gallium arsenide (GaAs) photonic crystal nanocavity device capable of capturing and releasing a pulse of light by dynamic control of the Q factor through free carrier photoexcitation. Unlike silicon-based devices where the performance of this dynamic optical control is limited by absorption from free carriers with nanosecond-order lifetimes, the short carrier lifetime (similar to 7 ps) of our equivalent GaAs devices enables dynamic control with negligible absorption losses. We capture a 4 ps optical pulse by briefly cycling the Q factor from 40,000 to 7900 and back just as the light couples to the nanocavity and confirm that the captured energy can be subsequently released on demand by a second injection of free carriers. Demonstrating dynamic control with negligible loss in a GaAs nanophotonic device also opens the door to dynamic control of cavity quantum electrodynamics with potential application towards quantum information processing.

  • 出版日期2014-6-30