Resonant photorefractive AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy at low temperature

The resonant photorefractive devices using low temperature AlGaAs/GaAs multiple-quantum-well structures in a parallel field geometry are demonstrated. The samples are semi-insulating as grown. The As-Ga-related defects incorporated into the samples during low temperature growth provide the required deep centers. No proton implantation, Cr doping, or annealing is needed for device fabrication. In the photorefractive wave mixing experiment, an output diffraction efficiency higher than 0.84% and a two-wave-mixing gain of more than 3000 cm(-1) are obtained under a dc electric field of 15 kV/cm. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.