Intraband Absorption of Quantum Wells for Artificial Nonlinear Material

The need for efficient electro-optical modulators drives the exploitation of quantum wells to realize optical nonlinear material. The current investigation regards their amorphous growth, whose theoretical description is imprecise. This introduces uncertainties in the position of the eigenstates and motivates the study of intraband absorption to tackle this challenge. Thanks to the special properties of the intraband transitions in quantum well, the study of a possible setup is carried out, leading to the unequivocal detection of this spectrum. For this purpose, a sample design was developed, ensuring multiple interactions between the impinging light and the quantum wells. Various simulations proved its correct behavior and provided reasonable expectations for the experiments. Afterward, the physical fabrication of the samples has been successfully obtained. Finally, implementing a customized setup has led to promising measurements of intraband absorption and considerations on the effective mass of silicon.