Interplay of plasma-induced and fast thermal nonlinearities in a GaAs-based photonic crystal nanocavity

TL;DR

This paper explores the rapid nonlinear optical responses in GaAs photonic crystal cavities, revealing a significant interaction between thermal and carrier effects, supported by a new dynamical model aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a two-relaxation-constant dynamical model to accurately describe fast nonlinear responses in GaAs photonic crystal cavities, highlighting the interplay of thermal and carrier effects.

Findings

Strong thermal and carrier nonlinear interplay observed

Dynamical model with two thermal relaxation constants developed

Model shows excellent agreement with experimental results

Abstract

We investigate the nonlinear response of GaAs-based photonic crystal cavities at time scales which are much faster than the typical thermal relaxation rate in photonic devices. We demonstrate a strong interplay between thermal and carrier induced nonlinear effects. We have introduced a dynamical model entailing two thermal relaxation constants which is in very good agreement with experiments. These results will be very important for Photonic Crystal-based nonlinear devices intended to deal with practical high repetition rate optical signals.