Abstract

Future bandwidth demand in optical communications requires all-optical devices based on optical non-linear behavior of materials. InN, with a room temperature direct bandgap well below 0.82 eV (1.5 mu m) is very attractive for these applications. In this work, we characterize the non-linear optical response and recombination lifetime of the interband transition of InN layers grown on GaN template and Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy. Non-linear characterization shows a decrease of the third-order susceptibility, chi((3)), and an increase of recombination lifetime when decreasing the energy difference between the excitation and the apparent optical band-gap energy of the analysed samples. Taking into account the non-linear characterization, an optically controlled reduction of the speed of light by a factor S = 4.2 is obtained for bulk InN at 1.5 mu m. The S factor of InN (5 nm)/In0.7Ga0.3N (8 nm) multiple quantum well heterostructures at the same operation wavelength is analysed, predicting an increase of this factor of three orders of magnitude. This result would open the possibility of using InN-based heterostructures for all-optical devices applications. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.