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Physical Review B

Controllable optical bistability in a four-subband semiconductor quantum well system

Jiahua Li

Published Apr 24, 2007• 307 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study optical bistability (OB) behavior based on intersubband transitions in asymmetric double quantum wells (QWs) where tunneling-induced quantum inference can be observed. The system interacts with a probe-laser field and a control laser field by means of a unidirectional ring cavity. We show that OB can be controlled efficiently by tuning the coupling strength of the tunneling, the Fano-type interference, and the intensity of the control field. The influence of the frequency detuning of the probe and control fields on the electronic OB behavior is also discussed. This investigation can be used for the optimal design of semiconductor QW systems to achieve fast and low-threshold all-optical switches, which is much more practical than that in an atomic system because of its flexible design and the controllable interference strength.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.75.155329

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We study optical bistability (OB) behavior based on intersubband transitions in asymmetric double quantum wells (QWs) where tunneling-induced quantum inference can be observed. The system interacts with a probe-laser field and a control laser field by means of a unidirectional ring cavity. We show that OB can be controlled efficiently by tuning the coupling strength of the tunneling, the Fano-type interference, and the intensity of the control field. The influence of the frequency detuning of the probe and control fields on the electronic OB behavior is also discussed. This investigation can be used for the optimal design of semiconductor QW systems to achieve fast and low-threshold all-optical switches, which is much more practical than that in an atomic system because of its flexible design and the controllable interference strength.
Abstract We theoretically investigate the hybrid absorptive-dispersive optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM) behaviors induced by Fano-type interference in a four-subband asymmetric semiconductor double quantum wells scheme driven by a degenerate probe field and a coherent coupling field. We show that the appearance or disappearance of OB can be controlled by modulating the strength of the Fano-type interference. We also present the threshold and hysteresis cycle of the OB can be controlled by adjusting the intensity of the coherent coupling field. Moreover, OB can be switched to OM by tuning the frequency detuning of the coherent coupling field or vice versa. This interesting scheme may provide guidance for technological applications in optoelectronics and solid-state quantum information science.
We investigate optical bistability in intersubband transitions of an asymmetric semiconductor quantum well structure that has equidistant transitions between three subbands of the system and is placed in a unidirectional cavity. The system is simultaneously coupled by a fundamental field and its second harmonic. The second harmonic field acts as a control field and significantly influences the optical bistability. In addition, the two-color coherent control of optical bistability by the relative phase of the fundamental and the second harmonic fields is shown. The influence of the electronic cooperation parameter on the OB behavior is also discussed. This investigation may be used for optimizing and controlling the optical switching process in the SQW solid-state system, which is much more practical than that in the atomic system because of its flexible design and the controllable interference strength.
This paper deals with optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM) behaviors for a triple semiconductor quantum well (SQW) structure driven coherently with two control fields, confined in a unidirectional ring cavity. The effect of different system parameters on OB and OM is explored. It is found that the threshold of onset of the OB can be controlled by manipulating the Rabi frequency of control fields. In this case, OB can be converted to OM. Then we investigate the effect of probe and control field detunings on OB behaviors. We found that the frequency detuning of probe field affects only the upper–lower branches of the OB curves but has no specific impact on OB threshold. By manipulating the first control field detuning, neither the OB threshold intensity nor upper–lower branches change. Finally, it is found that increasing the second control field detuning can reduce merely the OB threshold intensity, while no change happens in upper–lower OB branches. The results may be applicable in real experiments for realizing an all-optical switching or coding element in a solid-state platform.
Abstract The problem of optical bistability (OB) and optical multistability (OM) is numerically investigated in a four-level inverted Y-type semiconductor quantum well (SQW) structure immersed in a unidirectional ring cavity. In the four-level SQW system under consideration, a closed loop configuration is coupled to the upper level through a tunable probe field. We show that the OB threshold intensity can be controlled via the intensity of coupling fields which gives rise to the absorption variation of the probe field. In addition, due to the existence of the closed-loop configuration, the OB and OM behaviors of the proposed SQW medium are dependent on the relative phase of the applied fields. It is found that the OB can be switched to OM or vice versa by properly adjusting the relative phase of the applied fields. The results may provide new possibilities in real experiments for realizing an all-optical switching or coding element in a solid-state platform.
We theoretically investigate optical bistability (OB) behaviour in a four-level atomic system confined in a unidirectional ring cavity. It is shown that OB can be controlled by adjusting the intensity of the coupling field and the value of the cooperativity parameter. More importantly, our numerical results show that the threshold intensity of OB can be reduced without decreasing the range of the hysteresis loop via adjusting the effect of spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) or the relative phase between two applied fields. The influence of the frequency detuning of the coupling field on the OB behaviour is also discussed.
We conducted a theoretical investigation of optical bistability based on the dipole-allowed transitions in a three-level ladder-type WSe 2 system. The system interacts with a laser beam through a unidirectional ring cavity. Our results demonstrate that efficient control of bistability can be achieved by tuning the laser frequency, decay rate, and cooperation parameters. We also discuss the influence of absorption and dispersion processes on the optical bistability behavior. The optical bistability exhibits absorptive and hybrid characteristics in small- and intermediate-output fields, respectively. This study can inform the strategic design of 2D materials for fast and low-threshold all-optical switches, leveraging their significant optical nonlinearities and exciton binding energies.