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The room-temperature nonlinear absorption spectra of a GaInAs/AlInAs and a GaAlInAs/AlInAs multiple quantum well (MQW) were measured near 1.3 μm using a pump-probe technique. Saturation carrier densities at the heavy-hole exciton peak were determined to be 1.2 x 10¹⁸ and 1.0 x 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ with carrier lifetimes of ≃ 2.3 ns and ≃ 750 ps for the two samples, respectively. Fabry-Perot etalons with integrated mirrors grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with GaInAs/AlInAs MQWs as spacer layers were also fabricated as optical switching devices. A 175 ps recovery time was measured for the etalon at room temperature.

This thesis provides step by step instructions on how to design, layout, and fabricate diffractive optical elements (DOE). While there has been a great deal published on the design of DOEs, there are few publications detailing how to transform a design into a physical element. The thesis describes how to order a photomask and pattern an element. It provides recipes that I have used to etch DOEs with both an ion mill and a reactive ion etcher (RIE) at the Optical Sciences Center. The thesis includes characterization of the elements fabricated using these recipes. In addition the thesis looks at the design and fabrication of ring toric lenslets. A ring toric lenslet is a DOE that focuses light to a ring instead of a point. The ring toric lenslet has potential applications in the optical data storage industry. This thesis includes macros for the design and mask layout of binary and grayscale ring toric lenslets. Grayscale elements require special design, calibration, and mask layout steps not necessary for binary elements. Details of the design, calibration, mask layout, and fabrication of the grayscale element are included.

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