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Optics Express

Ultrafast optical switching in quantum dot-metallic nanoparticle hybrid systems

Wen‐Xing Yang, Ai-Xi Chen, Ziwen Huang, Ray‐Kuang Lee

Published May 8, 2015• 64 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study ultrafast excitonic population inversion resulting from the interaction of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) with localized surface plasmons. The plasmonic enhanced fields are generated when a metallic nanoparticle (MNP) is subject to a nonlinear chirped few-cycle pulse train. By numerically solving the time-dependent Bloch equations beyond the rotating-wave approximation, we show that the complete population inversion can be achieved for small interparticle distance and the dynamic in population inversion exhibits a steplike transition between absorption and amplifying. This phenomenon can be exploited as an all-optical ultrafast switching device. Moreover, the final state of population inversion is shown to be modified significantly with the interparticle distances, which is not only robust against the variation of probe pulse parameters but also suggests a straightforward method for measuring the interparticle distances via probing the final populations.

DOI
10.1364/oe.23.013032

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We study ultrafast excitonic population inversion resulting from the interaction of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) with localized surface plasmons. The plasmonic enhanced fields are generated when a metallic nanoparticle (MNP) is subject to a nonlinear chirped few-cycle pulse train. By numerically solving the time-dependent Bloch equations beyond the rotating-wave approximation, we show that the complete population inversion can be achieved for small interparticle distance and the dynamic in population inversion exhibits a steplike transition between absorption and amplifying. This phenomenon can be exploited as an all-optical ultrafast switching device. Moreover, the final state of population inversion is shown to be modified significantly with the interparticle distances, which is not only robust against the variation of probe pulse parameters but also suggests a straightforward method for measuring the interparticle distances via probing the final populations.
We study the efficient preparation of the exciton state in a hybrid nanostructure composed by a semiconductor quantum dot and a metallic nanoparticle, when starting from the ground state, using pulses derived with the method of shortcuts to adiabaticity. We show with numerical simulations that high levels of exciton population can be obtained for a wide range of interparticle distances and for short pulse durations. This behavior appears also to be robust against small positioning errors of the system. The fidelity of the population inversion degrades for smaller distances and longer pulses, as the nonlinear terms in the equations, expressing the quantum dot–metal nanoparticle interaction, become stronger and affect the evolution for longer times. The present work is expected to help schemes toward the generation of single photons on demand or ultrafast nanoswitches, where the controlled population inversion in semiconductor quantum dots coupled to metal nanoparticles is an important task.
We have investigated the coherent transfer of excitonic populations in a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) modulated by the surface plasmon of a metallic nanoparticle (MNP). The SQD is considered as a three-level V-type atomic system. We applied a transform-limited laser pulse field resonant with the upper atomic levels of the SQD. When the SQD is close enough to the MNP, the otherwise equally populated atomic levels can be selectively excited. Selectivity population can be achieved by two physical mechanisms: an enhancement of the Rabi frequencies that drive the optical transitions, which depends on the polarization arrangement, and a frequency shift of the optical transitions that leads to a dynamical detuning.
We study the potential for controlled population inversion in a coupled system comprised of a semiconductor quantum dot and a metal nanoparticle. We show that the widely used method of population inversion by a $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse can be modified for small interparticle distances. This modification depends strongly on the pulse duration. We also present analytical solutions of the nonlinear density matrix equations, for specific pulse envelopes, which lead to efficient excitonic population inversion in the quantum dot for several distances between the semiconductor quantum dot and the metal nanoparticle.
We study optical effects in a hybrid system composed of a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) and a spherical metal nanoparticle (MNP) that interacts with a weak probe and a strong pump electromagnetic field. We use modified nonlinear density matrix equations for the description of the optical properties of the system and calculate, numerically, the first-order susceptibilities of the SQD, the MNP, and the total hybrid nanostructure of the probe field in the presence of the pump field. We investigate the dependence of the probe absorption and dispersion spectra of the SQD, the MNP, and the total nanostructure on the interparticle distance and the detuning of the pump field, and stress the influence of the MNP contribution to the total optical response. The results we find are explained according to the theory of two distinct metastates, which constitute conjugations of the SQD excitonic and the MNP plasmonic excitations. We also show that the optical response strongly depends on the actual values of the SQD material parameters.
Abstract We study the optical properties of a coupled quantum dot (QD)–metallic nanoparticle (MNP) hybrid system via a quantum mechanical density matrix method. The QD system is considered as a three-level V-type configuration and is interacted with a weak probe light and a strong coupling light. The QD is placed near the MNP system and therefore the transition is interacted with a probe laser located near to the frequency of the MNP. We realize that due to the radius of the MNP and surface plasmon effects, the distance between the QD and MNP can optimize the absorption, dispersion, and group index of the hybrid system. We find that the probe amplification without population inversion can be obtained with a suitable distance between the QD and MNP. Moreover, a tunable superluminal light propagation is obtained for some parametric conditions of the hybrid system.
We theoretically investigated optical third-order nonlinearity of a coherently coupled exciton-plasmon hybrid system under a strong control field with a weak probe field. The analytic formulas of exciton population and effective third-order optical susceptibility of the hybrid of a metal nanoparticle (MNP) and a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) were deduced. The bistable exciton population and the induced bistable nonlinear absorption and refraction response were revealed. The bistability region can be tuned by adjusting the size of metal nanoparticle, interparticle distance and intensity of control field. Our results have perspective applications in optical information processing based on resonant coupling of exciton-plasmon.