Low-loss high-purity GaAs waveguides for monolithic integrated optical circuits at GaAs laser wavelengths

Abstract

Attenuation measurements in epitaxial n‐GaAs waveguides of different purity have been made near the absorption edge. These measurements show that losses of less than 2 cm⁻¹ can be achieved at energies within 50 meV of the band edge using material with N_D+N_A⩽2×10¹⁵ cm⁻³. These loss values are low enough to permit the use of GaAs waveguides in some integrated optical circuits and, in addition, are significantly lower than those published for Al_xGa_1−xAs waveguides of similar purity at energies comparably near the absorption edge.