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Electro-Optical And All-Optical Switching In Multimode Interference Waveguides Incorporating Semiconductor Nanostructures, Nathan Bickel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The application of epitaxially grown, III-V semiconductor-based nanostructures to the development of electro-optical and all-optical switches is investigated through the fabrication and testing of integrated photonic devices designed using multimode interference (MMI) waveguides. The properties and limitations of the materials are explored with respect to the operation of those devices through electrical carrier injection and optical pumping. MMI waveguide geometry was employed as it offered advantages such as a very compact device footprint, low polarization sensitivity, large bandwidth and relaxed fabrication tolerances when compared with conventional single-mode waveguide formats. The first portion of this dissertation focuses on the characterization of …