Ultimate fast optical switching of a planar microcavity in the telecom wavelength range

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates ultrafast, reversible optical switching of a GaAs-AlAs microcavity at telecom wavelengths using the electronic Kerr effect, achieving switching times limited only by the cavity storage time, enabling potential terahertz data modulation.

Contribution

It presents the first demonstration of ultimate fast optical switching in a planar microcavity at telecom wavelengths driven by the electronic Kerr effect.

Findings

Achieved reversible resonance frequency decrease by over half a linewidth.

Switching limited by cavity storage time of 0.3 ps, not material properties.

Paves the way for terahertz-rate on-chip optical modulation.

Abstract

We have studied a GaAs-AlAs planar microcavity with a resonance near 1300 nm in the telecom range by ultrafast pump-probe reflectivity. By the judicious choice of pump frequency, we observe a ultimate fast and reversible decrease of the resonance frequency by more than half a linewidth due to the instantaneous electronic Kerr effect. The switch-on and switch-off? of the cavity is only limited by the cavity storage time of ?tcav = 0.3ps and not by intrinsic material parameters. Our results pave the way to supra-THz switching rates for on-chip data modulation and real-time cavity quantum electrodynamics.