Subpicosecond response of GaAs Fabry-Perot microcavities

Abstract

The temporal and spectral response of bulk GaAs Fabry-Perot microcavities have been investigated in the subpicosecond regime at room temperature. Time resolved reflectivity measurements show a strong reshaping of a Gaussian fs-pulse after reflection from a microcavity caused by group velocity dispersion. The pulse distortion agrees fairly well with model calculations using Fourier transform analysis. Time integrated degenerate four-wave mixing experiments show that response times of the cavity as short as 300 fs were achieved.