Nonlinear optics of coupled semiconductor microcavities

Steven C. Hill

Madhav Kumar Singh, Pradip K. Jha, Aranya B. Bhattacherjee

We theoretically investigate optical bistability/multistability for all optical switching signature in a hybrid semiconductor microcavity system comprising a quantum well and a Kerr nonlinear substrate. The system is essentially two optically coupled microcavities with one of the microcavity being driven by an external amplitude-modulated pump laser. We show that the switching between bistable and multistable behaviour is influenced by the modulated pump laser, Kerr nonlinearity and the optical coupling between the two microcavities. We further investigate the intracavity spectrum of quantum fluctuations which exhibit the well-known normal mode splitting (NMS). The NMS behaviour is also found to be influenced by the system parameters. These results demonstrate that the present hybrid nonlinear system can be used in designing sensitive optical devices.

H. Yokoyama

Hailin Wang, Jagdeep Shah, Theo C. Damen +2 more

In semiconductor microcavities, quantization of the photon modes can lead to a unique system where excitons couple coherendy to a single mode of photons. In this paper we present the first coherent nonlinear optical study of a composite exciton-cavity system. The results reveal coherent dynamical behaviors that are not accessible to linear measurements.

Murray W. McCutcheon

M. Rüfenacht

We discuss optical nonlinearities in biased semiconductor microcavities. Optical nonlinearities arise from field screening by spatially separated electron–hole pairs in biased quantum wells (QWs). However, in wide QWs where the spatial separation is large, biasing is accompanied by a drastic decrease of oscillator strength, and has a negative impact on the optical nonlinearity. We show here that in an exciton polariton microcavity in the strong coupling regime, a decrease in oscillator strength only weakly affects the optical nonlinearity. Gigantic enhancement of photon–photon interaction is then realized by biasing, and the single-photon blockade limit can be reached.