Abstract

Excitons¹ in semiconductors are highly sensitive probes of crystal quality and applied fields and are usually observed at low temperature in highly pure strain free materials. In the quantum confined limit, the exciton is stabilized at room temperature, and a well resolved resonance is observed. A number of studies of the nonlinear optical properties of room temperature excitons, carrier-carrier scattering dynamics, and exciton-phonon interactions have been carried out recently. We have combined the quantum well exciton with a very high speed geometry for electrical signal propagation in the form of an ultrathin substrate coplanar stripline, and we obtain an interesting new approach to femtosecond optoelectronics.² We discuss the basic aspects of this new technique as well as the limits and some applications.

© 1990 Optical Society of America