Picosecond measurement of carrier sweepout times in InGaAs quantum wells

Recently, quantum well electroabsorption modulators have been proposed for use as optoelectronic switches in information processing systems. Recently, a strain-balanced InGaAs/GaAsP system has been shown to have good surface morphology and a surprisingly high saturation intensity. The most likely reason for this favorable result is a high sweepout rate of the carriers from the wells. To investigate the physics of carrier escape in this system, we have recently performed pump-probe transmission measurements with picosecond resolution on biased InGaAs quantum well structures.<>