Improved bitrate in a normally-off electroabsorptive logic device utilizing asymmetric Fabry-Perot etalon

In recent years there has been much interest in the study of extremely shallow quantum well (ESQW) structures for fast carrier sweep-out time and of asymmetric Fabry-Perot (AFP) etalon structures for large contrast ratio because they reduce driving voltages and increase switching speeds. In this presentation we show that by optimizing the number of quantum well periods of normally-off modulators using exciton ionization of ESQW in AFP etalon structures, we can have not only large contrast ratio, low drive voltage and low active layer thickness, but also significantly improved bitrate in cascaded optical systems by increasing the net reflection change between high- and low-states.