Resonant cavities for efficient LT-GaAs photoconductors operating at λ = 1550 nm

Abstract

We show that photoconductors based on low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) can be efficiently operated by 1.55 μm telecom wavelength by using metallic mirror based optical cavities. Two different semi-transparent front mirrors are compared: the first one is a thin gold layer, whereas the second one consists of a gold grating. Light absorption in grating mirror based optical cavities is numerically, analytically, and experimentally investigated allowing for an appropriate optical design. We show a 3 times improvement of the LT-GaAs photoconductor photoresponse by using, as front mirror, the gold grating once compared with the thin gold layer. It reaches around 0.5 mA/W under continuous wave, whereas a transient photoresistivity (Ron) as low as 5 Ω is deduced from dc photocurrents measured under femtosecond pulsed laser excitation. This work paves the way to efficient and reliable optoelectronics systems for GHz or THz waves sampling driven by 1.55 μm pulsed lasers widely available.