Impurity-induced-disordered phase modulators in AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well and double-heterostructure waveguides

Abstract
Results for two new channel waveguide phase modulators formed by impurity-induced disordering (IID) with Zn diffusion in AlGaAs/GaAs are presented. One device utilizes side diffusion into ridges of single quantum well material and the other utilizes surface diffusion into double-heterostructure material. Waveguide loss for both TE and TM polarizations, and effective index steps calculated from observed mode profiles are reported. TE/TM mode conversion was observed without bias under certain conditions. Initial results for phase modulation are in agreement with expectations and appear not to be affected by the IID.