Semiconductor light source with electrically tunable emission wavelength

US7876795B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• Maxion Technologies, Inc. · US
• The Research Foundation of the State University of New York · US

Inventors

• Gregory Belenky · Port Jefferson, US
• John D. Bruno · Bowie, US
• Mikhail V. Kisin · Carlsbad, US
• Serge Luryi · Old Field, US
• Leon Shterengas · Coram, US
• Sergey Suchalkin · Stony Brook, US
• Richard L. Tober · Arbutus, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 18, 2005
• Grant date: Jan 25, 2011
• Expiry date: Aug 18, 2025

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01S5/3422
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A semiconductor light source comprises a substrate, lower and upper claddings, a waveguide region with imbedded active area, and electrical contacts to provide voltage necessary for the wavelength tuning. The active region includes single or several heterojunction periods sandwiched between charge accumulation layers. Each of the active region periods comprises higher and lower affinity semiconductor layers with type-II band alignment. The charge carrier accumulation in the charge accumulation layers results in electric field build-up and leads to the formation of generally triangular electron and hole potential wells in the higher and lower affinity layers. Nonequillibrium carriers can be created in the active region by means of electrical injection or optical pumping. The ground state energy in the triangular wells and the radiation wavelength can be tuned by changing the voltage drop across the active region.