Control of transmission in photonic structures with n-i-p-i layers

Structures with a tunable photonic band gap can be used as effective optical switches. In this paper, the availability of n-i-p-i crystal layers in such periodic structures is considered. The dispersion and transmission characteristics of the GaAs-AlGaAs structures are examined for different excitation levels up to where light amplification occurs, The main feature of the switches is the control of the photonic band gap edge near 1.5 /spl mu/m by light at the shorter wavelengths due to the change in the refraction index of the active layers.