Room temperature electro-optic effect in CdHgTe multiple quantum well heterostructures at 1.5 μm

We present a study of the room temperature electromodulation properties of CdHgTe heterostructures as a base component for a photorefractive device operating at 1.5 μm. We reach absorption modulation as high as 200%, in the near-gap transparent region of the spectrum, by application of a reverse bias of the order of 100 kV/cm. We observe the transition from the Franz–Keldysh effect in 200 A wide wells to the quantum confined Stark effect in 90 A wells. The calculated diffraction efficiency in a suitable photorefractive device would be of the order of 8×10−4 in both cases.