Abstract

We present a joined theoretical and experimental study of an optical switch based on an asymmetric double quan­tum well structure. The energy band profile for the device in the presence of the optical field has been calculated using a coupled 1-D Schrodinger-Poisson solver. The absorption spectra are then calculated and compared to the experimen­tal ones, indicating the importance of non-linear effects such as band-gap renormalization. The dynamical response of the device to a train of periodic pulses has been investigated by mean of a proper set of rate equations drawn by a quite general model including all im­portant transport phenomena.