Electro-absorption and electro-refraction in Ge/SiGe coupled quantum wells (CQW) grown on Si have been investigated by means of optical transmission measurements. The separate confinement of electrons and holes in the heterostructure gives rise to an anomalous Quantum Confined Stark Effect (QCSE) that can be exploited to strongly enhance the electro refractive effect with respect to uncoupled quantum wells. A refractive index variation up to 2.3 x 10^-3 has been measured at 1.5 V, with an VπLπ of 0.046 V cm. This result is very promising for the realization of an efficient and compact phase modulator based on the Ge/SiGe material system.

Date Published: 13 May 2016
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9891, Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits V, 989113 (13 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2228856

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9891:
Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits V
Laurent Vivien; Lorenzo Pavesi; Stefano Pelli, Editor(s)