Tensile-strained multiple quantum-well structures for a large refractive index change caused by current injection

Tensile-strained multiple quantum-well (MQW) structures with camel-back shaped first valence sub-bands are proposed as structures with a large refractive index change caused by current injection. These structures have a high joint density of states at the absorption edge, and the injected carriers in the structures have a long lifetime because of separation in the k-space between electrons and holes. The refractive index change caused by current injection is calculated for camel-back InGaAs/InGaAsP strained MQW structures for 1.55 μm-wavelength light. These structures show a larger refractive index change than the other InGaAs/InGaAsP strained/unstrained MQW structures.