Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique

France Telecom Etablissement Autonome De Droit Public

French State Represented by the Minister of Post, Telecommunications and

Paul Voisin

Michel Allovon

Erwan Bigan

Jean-Christophe Harmand

Jose A Brum

An integrated monolithic electrooptical component having an electrooptical modulator and a semiconductor laser on the same substrate. The modulator and laser are formed from a stack of semiconductor layers. The modulator includes one layer that is absorbent and the laser includes one layer that is active. Both absorbent and active layers are constituted by the same epitaxied structure of a highly coupled composition superlattice with alternation of semiconductor layers of different compositions. A forward voltage is applied to the laser layers that causes the active layer of the laser to emit a radiation which then traverses the absorbent layer of the modulator. A reverse voltage is applied to the modulator layers in order to modulate the absorption of the radiation traversing the modulator.

Highly coupled superlattice integrated laser-modulator component

An electro-optical component defined by a substrate which is coated in the growth axis direction with a periodic stack of semiconductor layers suitable for defining a superlattice whose quantum wells are fairly strongly coupled together. By applying a control electric field to the superlattice parallel to its growth axis, the optical absorption threshold is varied, and the direction of variation is towards higher energies.

Superlattice optical monitor

An Electro-Optic modulation method and device using a low-energy oblique transition of a tightly coupled super-grid. According to the present invention, a luminous beam is injected into a tightly coupled super-grid and an electric field (E) is applied to the super-grid whose amplitude is made to gradually vary so as to cause the intensity of the beam to vary. This beam is injected parallel to the plane of the films of the super-grid which guides the injected beam. The electric field is weak and applied along the growth direction of the super-grid, which provokes the appearance of a low energy oblique transition (TB) in a domain of wavelengths where the super-grid is transparent in the absence of any electric field. The super-grid is one whereby the wavelength of the luminous beam is contained in this domain. Such a device may find application in optical telecommunications systems.

Electro-optic modulation method and device using the low-energy oblique

To detect a temporal variation, in particular an ultrashort pulse, in a beam of electromagnetic radiation, this beam is applied to a super-lattice of type II, along its axis of growth, and the voltage between the opposite sides of the network along the same axis is determined. The super-lattice is preferably a composite super-lattice, in particular, with alternate layers of indium arsenide and of gallium antimonide. The method is, in particular, applied in the infrared range.

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Paris, France

Paul Voisin