Patent · US Expired

Magnetooptic device and its driving method

US5173955A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
6References
42Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 20, 1991
Grant dateDec 22, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 20, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S5/026
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

There is provided a magnetooptic device including a substrate; a semiconductor layer having a quantum well structure formed on the substrate, in which the semiconductor layer is formed by alternately laminating a well layer and a barrier layer and at least the barrier layer in those layers contains magnetic ions; and electrodes to apply an electric field to the semiconductor layer. A light which was polarized in a predetermined direction is input to the semiconductor layer. A magnetic field is applied to the semiconductor layer. An electric field is applied to the semiconductor layer by the electrodes. The light which was transmitted in the semiconductor layer is extracted. A degree of leakage of a wave function of the carrier in the well layer into the barrier layer changes. An effective magnetic field which a carrier spin feels changes by an exchange interaction between the carrier spin and a magnetic moment associated with the magnetic ions. Thus, a degree of magnetooptic effect which is given to the transmission light changes. The degree of manetooptic effect can be controlled by the applied electric field. The magnetooptic device is preferably used as an optical modulator or a…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.