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Physical Review Letters

Field-induced optical nonlinearity due to virtual transitions in semiconductor quantum well structures

Masamichi Yamanishi

Published Aug 31, 1987• 82 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A new concept on optical nonlinearity due to virtual transitions in quantum well structure with electric field, named virtual charge-induced optical nonlinearity, is proposed, with a showing of some examples of theoretical result on the nonlinearity. The switching time of the nonlinearity is expected to be extremely short, 100 fs. The nonlinearity seems to be observable and quite useful for the design of an ultrafast optical gate. A possibility of optical bistability without external optical feedback, based on the proposed nonlinearity, is pointed out.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.59.1014

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A new concept on optical nonlinearity due to virtual transitions in quantum well structure with electric field, named virtual charge-induced optical nonlinearity, is proposed, with a showing of some examples of theoretical result on the nonlinearity. The switching time of the nonlinearity is expected to be extremely short, 100 fs. The nonlinearity seems to be observable and quite useful for the design of an ultrafast optical gate. A possibility of optical bistability without external optical feedback, based on the proposed nonlinearity, is pointed out.
An optical nonlinearity due to virtual charge polarization in a quantum-well structure biased by a DC electric field is proposed and discussed. The switching time of the nonlinearity is expected to be extremely short, on the order of 100 fs. An effective degenerative four-wave chi /sup 3/ parameter is estimated to be 1.0*10/sup -9/ (esu) for a graded gap AlGaAs quantum well and a detuning energy of pump light, 35 meV. The nonlinearity is observable and quite useful for designing an all-optical and ultrafast optical gate.>
A new mechanism for enhancing optical nonlinearities in quantum well structures, subject to an electric field normal to the layers, is investigated. It is found that large nonlinearities are induced by virtual transitions of Wannier excitons with "giant dipole moments." In contrast to other mechanisms, this enhancement mechanism is independent of correlations between excitons, for any order of nonlinearities. This fact results in a resonant enhancement at half the excitonic energy, and an ultrafast response, even faster than other virtual-process-induced mechanisms.
Using computer simulation, we show a possibility of ultrafast switching between stable states of an optical bistable device based on nano-film of semiconductor. Optical bistability occurs because of nonlinear dependence of semiconductor absorption coefficient on electric field potential. Electric field is induced by a laser pulse due to charged particles generation. The main feature of this bistable element is low absorption energy, which is necessary for switching, in comparison with bistable element based on other physical mechanism of laser energy absorption. For computer simulation of a problem under consideration a new finite-difference scheme is proposed using the original iterative process.
Using computer simulation, we show a possibility of ultrafast switching between stable states of an optical bistable device based on nano-film of semiconductor. Optical bistability occurs because of nonlinear dependence of semiconductor absorption coefficient on electric field potential. Electric field is induced by a laser pulse due to charged particles generation. The main feature of this bistable element is low absorption energy, which is necessary for switching, in comparison with bistable element based on other physical mechanism of laser energy absorption. For computer simulation of a problem under consideration a new finite-difference scheme is proposed using the original iterative process.
The main mechanisms for the observed large optical nonlinearities in semiconductors are briefly discussed and illustrated for the example of the exciton ionization by plasma screening. These nonlinearities cause various types of optical bistability, either of intrinsic nature or evoked by an additional resonator feedback. Under certain operation conditions also higher instabilities such as oscillations and chaos can be obtained. As an example, the self-pulsing of an induced absorber in a ring cavity is treated. The resulting locked oscillations are shown to follow a Farey-tree scenarium.
Epitaxial methods allow the fabrication of nonlinear interferomethc structures which include the mirrors and the GaAs Multiple Quantum Wells (MQW) nonlinear medium in a single crystal. This results in very compact nonlinear microcavities with typically 5im overall thickness. Optical bistability is observed in these structures at mW optical power. We review our latest experimental results on these structures including the observation of high contrast switching in the reflection mode the direct measurement of dispersive optical nonlinearities in MQWs evidencing their saturation behavior at high intensities. Finally we report external-beam switching experiments which allow to assess the potential of these structures as all-optical gates.