https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00468-6
Free carrier modulation of a sub-bandgap CW laser beam: A Si optoelectronic chopper
Centre for Advanced Diffusion-Wave Technologies (CADIFT), Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3G8, Canada
In this work we introduced two beam photocarrier cross-modulation for creation of an optically driven photonic laser beam modulator using a semiconductor wafer as the active medium. Unlike other laser beam modulators, the process of modulation of an unmodulated sub-bandgap laser beam was made possible by generating a spatially- and free-carrier density-wave-dependent infrared absorption coefficient in the bulk of the semiconductor, following absorption of a collinear super-bandgap modulated laser beam. The experimental results showed that the modulation efficiency strongly depends on the transport parameters of the semiconductor material and on the power of the super-bandgap laser beam.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2008
