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Physica Scripta

Nonlocal theory of the intersubband optical Kerr effect in a semiconductor quantum well

Ansheng Liu, Ole Keller

Published Jul 1, 1995• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Taking as a starting point the Liouville equation for the one-body density matrix operator, a general expression for the third-order nonlinear current density responsible for the optical Kerr effect associated with intersubband transitions in a quantum well is derived by use of the perturbative expansion method. The nonlinear current density is related to the local field inside the quantum well via a nonlocal relation. By combining the field-induced nonlinear part of the current density with the Maxwell equation, a nonlinear integral equation for the local field is established. For a two-level quantum well, the integral equation is solved exactly. The nonlinear optical reflectivity, transmittance, and absorbance of the quantum well in turn are obtained. Numerical calculations of the light-induced change of the optical spectra are presented for a Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As/GaAs/Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As quantum well. The numerical results show that the optical reflectivity and absorbance decrease, and the transmittance increases as the optical intensity of the incident light is increased. In the case where the quantum-well structure is heavily doped, a notable light-induced red-shift of the location of the resonance peak in the optical spectra stemming from the combined local-field effect and field-induced population redistribution is predicted.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/52/1/021

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physica status solidi (b)•Dec 5, 2016•37 citations
Taking as a starting point the Liouville equation for the one-body density matrix operator, a general expression for the third-order nonlinear current density responsible for the optical Kerr effect associated with intersubband transitions in a quantum well is derived by use of the perturbative expansion method. The nonlinear current density is related to the local field inside the quantum well via a nonlocal relation. By combining the field-induced nonlinear part of the current density with the Maxwell equation, a nonlinear integral equation for the local field is established. For a two-level quantum well, the integral equation is solved exactly. The nonlinear optical reflectivity, transmittance, and absorbance of the quantum well in turn are obtained. Numerical calculations of the light-induced change of the optical spectra are presented for a Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As/GaAs/Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As quantum well. The numerical results show that the optical reflectivity and absorbance decrease, and the transmittance increases as the optical intensity of the incident light is increased. In the case where the quantum-well structure is heavily doped, a notable light-induced red-shift of the location of the resonance peak in the optical spectra stemming from the combined local-field effect and field-induced population redistribution is predicted.
We give a local-field calculation of the dynamic response of a single quantum well (QW) inside a cavity pumped by a strong light beam. The starting point of our theory is the microscopic Maxwell-Lorentz equation combined with light-induced nonlinear current densities associated with intersubband transitions in the QW system. The frequency- and space-dependent current densities are derived from the density-matrix formalism in a nonperturbative manner. Assuming only the electromagnetic coupling from the pump beam to the probe beam is important, we solve the wave equation exactly for both the pump and probe fields. In turn we determine the probe absorption coefficient of the QW structure. For a GaAs/Al0.33{}_{0.33}0.33​Ga0.67{}_{0.67}0.67​As QW placed between vacuum and a GaAs/AlAs distributed Bragg reflector followed by a GaAs prism, we calculate the probe absorption spectra for different parameters such as the pump frequency, the incident intensity of the pump field, and the cavity quality. Our results show that the optical absorption and amplification for the probe field are strongly dependent of these parameters. It is also demonstrated that it is of importance to take into account the dynamic screening effect for the pump field in the calculation of the probe spectra.
We study theoretically the time evolution of nonlinear optical phenomena of a probe electromagnetic field pulse in intersubband transitions of a semiconductor quantum well structure under the influence of a pump electromagnetic field. More specifically, we take into consideration the effects of electron-electron interactions and consider the interaction of a two-subband system with rectangular electromagnetic fields. The spectral form of the linear absorption, dispersion, and nonlinear optical Kerr effect is described, from the time that the external field is applied up until the dynamics of the system has reached a steady state. In order to describe the dynamics of the system, the effective nonlinear Bloch equations are used, in which renormalized terms for the transition energy and the applied field have been added, due to the effects of electron-electron interactions. These equations are properly combined, and the differential equations of the density matrix elements for the several optical phenomena up to third order are derived. These are solved numerically in the whole time range up to the steady state for a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure. We show that the form of the several optical spectra studied here has a significantly altered evolution over time, according to the value of the frequency of the pump field and of electron sheet density. Even in the case in which the spectral form in the steady state case is almost identical for two different sets of parameters, their evolution can be quite different, according to the precise value of these parameters.
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 Pschl-Teller wells using the density matrix formalism taking into account the(intrasubband) relaxation.Since there are two adjustable parameters κ and λ in Pschl-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 Pschl-Teller well.
We study theoretically the Kerr nonlinearity of a probe field in the presence of a near resonant pump field in a two-subband system in a semiconductor quantum well structure. In our study we take into account the effects of electron–electron interactions and consider the interaction of the two-subband system with rectangular electromagnetic fields. For the description of the system dynamics we use the nonlinear differential equations of the density matrix elements for the several nonlinear optical processes, under the rotating wave approximation. These equations are solved numerically for a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure. We show that the Kerr nonlinearity of a driven two-subband system can be significantly dependent on the frequency and the intensity of the pump field and on electron sheet density.
Abstractauthoren This paper investigates the effects of an intense laser field and electric field on the optical properties of quantum well represented by Morse potential. The non-resonant, high-frequency intense laser effects upon the system are treated within the framework of non-perturbative approach, modifying the confinement potential associated to the heterostructure. The analytical expressions of the linear and third-order nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes are obtained by using the compact-density matrix formalism. The results for a typical GaAs quantum well correspond to several configurations of the structural parameter, the strengths of the intense laser radiation, and the static electric field. Numerical results reveal the striking influence of the external fields on the magnitude and resonant peak energy positions of the optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes. Besides, the control of intersubband optical transitions by the structure parameter seems feasible.