Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Optical Nonlinearities of Type-II Quantum Wells,

Greg R. Olbright, W. S. Fu, Adelbert Owyoung, John F. Klem, Robert Binder

Published May 22, 1992• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Abstract : In this paper we describe a detailed study of the complete time evolution of the optical nonlinearities of type-11 GaAs/AlAs quantum wells using nanosecond and femtosecond pump/probe spectroscopy. We explain these nonlinearities by solving the generalized Wannier equation for the case of a type-II quantum-well structure. In contrast to the usual type-I quantum-wells, we observe different shifts and saturations of light- and heavy-hole excitons as well as the absence of gain. The dominant effects are a blue shift and saturation of the heavy-hole (HH) exciton.

Related papers

Nonlinearities in the absorption and photoluminescence spectra of GaAs/AlAs type II heterostructures

Greg R. Olbright, W. S. Fu, J. F. Klem +5 more

We present here the first observation of quasisteady state optical nonlinearities in the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of GaAs/AlAs type II heterostructures. Using pump-probe spectroscopy we observed deep modulation, ΔT ~ 0.5 (Δα =−50,000 cm−1), due to a >40-meV blue shift and bleaching of the heavy hole exciton absorption peak. In addition, a blue shift of up to ~10 meV of the indirect PL line is observed with increasing PL excitation intensity. These nonlinearities are understood in terms of spatially separated layers of electrons and holes that are produced by the optical excitation process.

•May 21, 1990•0 citations

Nonlinear Luminescence Spectroscopy of Excitons in GaAs-AlAs Quantum Wells

Satoshi Ideshita, Yasuaki Masumoto

We present the detailed experimental results of the time-resolved nonlinear luminescence of excitons in undoped GaAs-AlAs quantum wells. The observed nonlinearity results from the saturation in luminescence originated from the phase space filling and exchange effects of carriers. In some temporal profiles of nonlinear luminescence, anomalous anti-correlation profile has been observed. The origin of anti-correlation is ascribed to be the finite rise time of the exciton population at the luminescent tail state in the exciton band.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Jan 15, 1990•6 citations

Coherent optical nonlinearities in semiconductor microstructures

Peter Brick

This dissertation presents investigations of fundamental optical nonlinearities in semi-conductor microstructures. Two distinct effects are studied. In the first part the excitonic optical Stark effect in InGaAs and GaAs multiple quantum-well structures is investigated by means of pump-probe spectroscopy. For nonresonant excitation below the excitonic transition the direction of the shift of the resonance depends on the polarization of the pump and probe pulses. In particular, for anti-circular polarization a surprising red-shift is observed. For resonant excitation, induced absorption energetically above and below the exciton transition and bleaching of the resonance is found. Experiments using both resonant and nonresonant excitation reveal the importance of bound and unbound two-exciton states in absorption changes of the 1s heavy-hole exciton resonance. It is found that higher-order Coulomb contributions determine the intensity as well as the time dependence of the differential excitonic absorption. In addition, the influence of light-hole excitons is analyzed. It is shown that the direction of the optical Stark shift for nonresonant excitation depends also sensitively on the heavy-hole to light-hole splitting and the detuning of the pump pulse. For very high pump intensities and nonresonant excitation the absorption is split when a circularly polarized pump and a linearly polarized probe beam are used. For co-circular excitation traces of hyper-Raman gain are observed. In the second part of this dissertation, the nonlinear optical response of semiconductor microcavities in the nonperturbative regime is studied in resonant single-beam transmission and pump-probe experiments. In both types of experiment, a pronounced third transmission peak lying spectrally between the two normal modes is observed. Its dependence on the probe intensity, pump intensity, pump-probe delay, exciton-cavity detuning and pump detuning is investigated. For single-beam transmission, the energy of the third peak parallels the position of the cavity resonance. It is more pronounced for circularly polarized excitation and lasts longer than the two normal modes. For pump-probe experiments, the third peak increases with decreasing probe intensity and increasing pump intensity. Its energy is close to the low-energy side of the pump spectrum and virtually unaffected by the cavity-exciton detuning. The appearance of the third peak requires temporal overlap of pump and probe pulses. The origin of this complex nonlinearity is the quantum nature of light, which induces intraband polarizations in the presence of a coherent driving field and a finite carrier density. It is found that the coupling of the intraband polarizations via guided modes to the polarization of the fundamental longitudinal mode is responsible for the third transmission peak. A fully quantized theory reproduces the experimental observations.

•Jan 1, 2001•0 citations

Nonlinear absorption and gain in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells

Giuliano Coli, A. Passaseo, Donato Greco +4 more

We present a detailed study of the excitonic nonlinearities in InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells based on both stationary and transient pump-and-probe transmission spectroscopy. Bleaching of the excitonic resonance and free carrier gain have been observed. A quantitative analysis of the observed nonlinearity is provided by means of a rigorous solution of the Bethe–Salpeter equation for the investigated heterostructures.

Applied Physics Letters•Aug 18, 1997•1 citation

Exciton beats and coherent control in GaAs quantum wells

Joaquín Fernández-Rossier, C. Tejedor, Roberto D. Merlin

Summary form only given. The optical properties of semiconductor quantum wells (QW) and, in particular, the coherent dynamics of excitons following resonant excitation with ultrafast laser pulses have attracted much attention in recent years. It is generally accepted that there is a transfer of coherence between the optical field and the QW that disappears in a characteristic time T/sub 2/ (picoseconds for GaAs) after the laser is turned off. However, the questions as to how the coherence is actually induced and that of the nature of the coherent state of the solid are poorly understood. In this work we address these points by re-examining the longstanding problem of the (classical vs. quantum) nature of the ubiquitous beats associated with the light-hole (LX) heavy-hole (HX) excitons, which are observed in transient optical experiments on QW. To this end, we consider the coherent behavior of excitons using the simplest albeit non-trivial model where they are treated as non-interacting bosons. Our results bear directly on studies for which nonlinear effects are not important and are not aimed directly at explaining the fourwave-mixing (FWM) experiments that dominate the field. Nevertheless, since nonlinear effects are, typically, weak compared with harmonic contributions, the free boson picture provides in all cases the correct lowest order wavefunction of the photoexcited solid.

Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference•Jan 20, 2003•0 citations

Optical nonlinearities in AlxGa_1−xAs/GaAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells

Han Q. Le, J.V. Hryniewicz, W. D. Goodhue +1 more

Optical nonlinearities of Al(x)Ga(1-x)As/GaAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells within a p-i-n structure have been observed by using time-resolved spectroscopy. Under photoexcitation, exciton absorption lines exhibit spectral shifts of as much as approximately 1 meV. The recovery times of these spectral shifts are of the order of hundreds of picoseconds when the excitation photon is above the lowest exciton state but become less than 10 psec when excitation is below the lowest exciton state, indicating a virtual process. The behavior of these spectral shifts is consistent with the presence of a polarization induced by optical pumping. The polarization is believed to be due to the excitons that have nonvanishing electric dipole moments along the axis of the asymmetric coupled quantum wells.

Optics Letters•Oct 1, 1988•14 citations
Abstract : In this paper we describe a detailed study of the complete time evolution of the optical nonlinearities of type-11 GaAs/AlAs quantum wells using nanosecond and femtosecond pump/probe spectroscopy. We explain these nonlinearities by solving the generalized Wannier equation for the case of a type-II quantum-well structure. In contrast to the usual type-I quantum-wells, we observe different shifts and saturations of light- and heavy-hole excitons as well as the absence of gain. The dominant effects are a blue shift and saturation of the heavy-hole (HH) exciton.
We present here the first observation of quasisteady state optical nonlinearities in the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of GaAs/AlAs type II heterostructures. Using pump-probe spectroscopy we observed deep modulation, ΔT ~ 0.5 (Δα =−50,000 cm−1), due to a >40-meV blue shift and bleaching of the heavy hole exciton absorption peak. In addition, a blue shift of up to ~10 meV of the indirect PL line is observed with increasing PL excitation intensity. These nonlinearities are understood in terms of spatially separated layers of electrons and holes that are produced by the optical excitation process.
We present the detailed experimental results of the time-resolved nonlinear luminescence of excitons in undoped GaAs-AlAs quantum wells. The observed nonlinearity results from the saturation in luminescence originated from the phase space filling and exchange effects of carriers. In some temporal profiles of nonlinear luminescence, anomalous anti-correlation profile has been observed. The origin of anti-correlation is ascribed to be the finite rise time of the exciton population at the luminescent tail state in the exciton band.
This dissertation presents investigations of fundamental optical nonlinearities in semi-conductor microstructures. Two distinct effects are studied. In the first part the excitonic optical Stark effect in InGaAs and GaAs multiple quantum-well structures is investigated by means of pump-probe spectroscopy. For nonresonant excitation below the excitonic transition the direction of the shift of the resonance depends on the polarization of the pump and probe pulses. In particular, for anti-circular polarization a surprising red-shift is observed. For resonant excitation, induced absorption energetically above and below the exciton transition and bleaching of the resonance is found. Experiments using both resonant and nonresonant excitation reveal the importance of bound and unbound two-exciton states in absorption changes of the 1s heavy-hole exciton resonance. It is found that higher-order Coulomb contributions determine the intensity as well as the time dependence of the differential excitonic absorption. In addition, the influence of light-hole excitons is analyzed. It is shown that the direction of the optical Stark shift for nonresonant excitation depends also sensitively on the heavy-hole to light-hole splitting and the detuning of the pump pulse. For very high pump intensities and nonresonant excitation the absorption is split when a circularly polarized pump and a linearly polarized probe beam are used. For co-circular excitation traces of hyper-Raman gain are observed. In the second part of this dissertation, the nonlinear optical response of semiconductor microcavities in the nonperturbative regime is studied in resonant single-beam transmission and pump-probe experiments. In both types of experiment, a pronounced third transmission peak lying spectrally between the two normal modes is observed. Its dependence on the probe intensity, pump intensity, pump-probe delay, exciton-cavity detuning and pump detuning is investigated. For single-beam transmission, the energy of the third peak parallels the position of the cavity resonance. It is more pronounced for circularly polarized excitation and lasts longer than the two normal modes. For pump-probe experiments, the third peak increases with decreasing probe intensity and increasing pump intensity. Its energy is close to the low-energy side of the pump spectrum and virtually unaffected by the cavity-exciton detuning. The appearance of the third peak requires temporal overlap of pump and probe pulses. The origin of this complex nonlinearity is the quantum nature of light, which induces intraband polarizations in the presence of a coherent driving field and a finite carrier density. It is found that the coupling of the intraband polarizations via guided modes to the polarization of the fundamental longitudinal mode is responsible for the third transmission peak. A fully quantized theory reproduces the experimental observations.
Summary form only given. The optical properties of semiconductor quantum wells (QW) and, in particular, the coherent dynamics of excitons following resonant excitation with ultrafast laser pulses have attracted much attention in recent years. It is generally accepted that there is a transfer of coherence between the optical field and the QW that disappears in a characteristic time T/sub 2/ (picoseconds for GaAs) after the laser is turned off. However, the questions as to how the coherence is actually induced and that of the nature of the coherent state of the solid are poorly understood. In this work we address these points by re-examining the longstanding problem of the (classical vs. quantum) nature of the ubiquitous beats associated with the light-hole (LX) heavy-hole (HX) excitons, which are observed in transient optical experiments on QW. To this end, we consider the coherent behavior of excitons using the simplest albeit non-trivial model where they are treated as non-interacting bosons. Our results bear directly on studies for which nonlinear effects are not important and are not aimed directly at explaining the fourwave-mixing (FWM) experiments that dominate the field. Nevertheless, since nonlinear effects are, typically, weak compared with harmonic contributions, the free boson picture provides in all cases the correct lowest order wavefunction of the photoexcited solid.
Optical nonlinearities of Al(x)Ga(1-x)As/GaAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells within a p-i-n structure have been observed by using time-resolved spectroscopy. Under photoexcitation, exciton absorption lines exhibit spectral shifts of as much as approximately 1 meV. The recovery times of these spectral shifts are of the order of hundreds of picoseconds when the excitation photon is above the lowest exciton state but become less than 10 psec when excitation is below the lowest exciton state, indicating a virtual process. The behavior of these spectral shifts is consistent with the presence of a polarization induced by optical pumping. The polarization is believed to be due to the excitons that have nonvanishing electric dipole moments along the axis of the asymmetric coupled quantum wells.