Ultimate fast optical switching of a planar microcavity in the telecom wavelength range

Abstract: We have studied a GaAs-AlAs planar microcavity with a resonance near 1300 nm in the telecom range by ultrafast pump-probe reflectivity. By the judicious choice of pump frequency, we observe a ultimate fast and reversible decrease of the resonance frequency by more than half a linewidth due to the instantaneous electronic Kerr effect. The switch-on and switch-off? of the cavity is only limited by the cavity storage time of ?tcav = 0.3ps and not by intrinsic material parameters. Our results pave the way to supra-THz switching rates for on-chip data modulation and real-time cavity quantum electrodynamics.