The third-order nonlinear intersubband absorption in superlattices is studied theoretically by means of a general formalism of the Kronig-Penney model given recently. It is shown that there is a general relation between the tunnel bandwidth and the minimum optical saturation intensity. The physical origin of this relation is analyzed.
摘要 本文运用Kroning-Penney 模型新形式, 研究超晶格子带间光吸收的三阶非线性效应, 发现不论量子阱参数(如阱宽、垒宽和垒高等)如何改变, 光吸收饱和强度与隧穿谱宽之间存在着一种较普遍的关系, 并阐明了这种依从关系的物理机制. Abstract By means of a new formalism of the Kronig-Ponney model developed recently, the third order nonlinear optical effect of intersubband transition In superlattices is studied. It is shown that there is a general relation between optical saturation intensity and tunnel bandwidth. The physical mechanism of this relation is analyzed. 作者及机构信息 潘少华;冯思民;崔大复;杨国祯 1. 中国科学院物理研究所, Authors and contacts Pan Shao-hua Feng Si-min Cui Da-fu Yan Guo-zhen 参考文献 施引文献
In the past few years advance in nanofabrication techniques have made it possible to make well-like compound semiconductor structures of low nanometer size.In these structures,the state of the electron in the direction perpendicular to the length of the well is quantized with sufficiently large separation in energy levels and the motion of the electron parallel to the length is that of a quasi-free electron.One of the most remarkable properties of these one-dimensional electron system is that the optical transitions between the size-quantized subbands are feasible.The result shows there is a large optical nonlinearities in asymmetric quantum wells.The problem of optical saturation of intersubband absorption has recently attracted considerable attention.The problem is very important to the development of superlattice devices such as fast infrared detectors and(modulators) because one needs to know the range of input optical intensities for which linear operation is(possible.) The analytical expression of the linear and the third-order nonlinear optical intersubband absorption coefficients are obtained in Pschl-Teller wells using the density matrix formalism taking into account the(intrasubband) relaxation.Since there are two adjustable parameters κ and λ in Pschl-Teller wells,the shapes of the wells will change with the change of the parameters κ and λ,accordingly the linear and the third-order nonlinear optical absorption coefficients will change with the parameters κ and λ.It is shown that the optical absorption coefficient depends on the parameter,and the optical intensity strongly. The absorption saturation will occur with I increase.Numerical results are presented for a typical AlGaAs/GaAs Pschl-Teller well.
We present a theoretical formalism, based on the transfer-matrix method and the so-called sheet model, describing light propagation in multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures in the range of the saturated intersubband absorption. A commonly used total internal reflection geometry is considered. Intensity of the reflected light as a function of the input intensity is calculated for two-level $\mathrm{GaAs}/{\mathrm{Al}}_{x}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}\mathrm{As}$ MQW. Numerical simulations show that the optical nonlinearity of the structures can be greatly modified by optical interference effects. In the case of sufficiently thick structures and grazing angle of incidence the multiple reflections inside the MQW can lead even to bistability.