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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Nonlinear behaviour of the resonance fluorescence from excitons in quantum wells

G. K. G. Burau, Günter Manzke, Frank Kieseling, H. Stolz, D. Reuter, Andreas Dirk Wieck

Published Feb 1, 2010• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We examine the resonance fluorescence from localized excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with increasing excitation power and for different temperatures. Extending our experimental setup by a microscope objective with high numerical aperture in the cryostat, the detection of the emission from localized excitons is possible. We find a nonlinear behaviour of the emitted intensity with increasing laser power, which is explained as a transition of the emission from excitonic to electron-hole plasma states due to many-body effects between excited carriers. This is supported by our theoretical description based on the semiconductor Bloch equations.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/210/1/012017

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We examine the resonance fluorescence from localized excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with increasing excitation power and for different temperatures. Extending our experimental setup by a microscope objective with high numerical aperture in the cryostat, the detection of the emission from localized excitons is possible. We find a nonlinear behaviour of the emitted intensity with increasing laser power, which is explained as a transition of the emission from excitonic to electron-hole plasma states due to many-body effects between excited carriers. This is supported by our theoretical description based on the semiconductor Bloch equations.
Summary form only given. After the first observation of resonance scattering from excitons in quantum wells about 1980, this topic has received much interest and has given rise to a hot debate on the origin of this scattering process. Recently, the determination of the temporal behaviour and the coherence properties of this scattering has initiated revival of interferometric techniques in semiconductor optics. Finally, the observation of speckles in the angular distribution proved that this scattering indeed originates from exciton states localized by disorder. However, complementary information on the nature of the excitons and the interplay between scattering and luminescence can be obtained from high resolution cw spectroscopy, having the advantage that only a small fraction of the states within the homogeneous linewidth is excited. However yhe polarization behaviour is quite different for the coherent Rayleigh component and the luminescence, depending on the orientation, splitting and relaxation of the localized states. The experimental results for a 20 nm wide GaAs quantum well clearly confirm this prediction.
We study the fluorescence light emitted from GaAs excitons in semiconductor quantum wells. The excitons are modeled as interacting bosons. By combining quantum optical methods for the excitonic emission spectrum with many particle descriptions of the transmission through the medium, we can evaluate the spectra outside the well. Comparing with experimental spectra, we get a very good agreement. The method helps to explain the main features of the observed spectra. It is demonstrated that the observed spectra show clear evidence of superfluorescent emission.
This work presents new results of experimental studies of exciton relaxation in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well materials, using transient nonlinear laser spectroscopy techniques. In the low excitation regime, effective optical Bloch equations similar to the density matrix formalism of a two-level system describe the response. Solutions of these equations appropriate for three-pulse scattering studies are presented, along with a discussion of new experimental techniques used in this work. Non-ideal conditions present in the molecular beam epitaxy growth process introduce monolayer fluctuations in the quantum well thickness, leading to inhomogeneous broadening and exciton localization at sites of minimum energy. Localized excitons are separated in energy from extended, quasi-delocalized states by the mobility edge. Studies of localized exciton relaxation indicate that these excitons relax on a much slower timescale than delocalized excitons. The temperature dependence of the localized exciton relaxation rate shows that above 15K, the excitons are thermally activated to extended states above the mobility edge. Below 15K the excitons relax by phonon assisted migration between localization sites. For temperatures above 5K, and for exciton energies greater than 1 meV below line center, an extra dephasing mechanism characterizes the exciton relaxation. The inhomogeneous broadening of the exciton leads to the emission of stimulated photon echoes in the experimental geometry used in this work. The time-resolved emission demonstrates the stimulated photon echo nature at low excitation densities. At higher excitation densities, the decay dynamics is more complex. The time-resolved emission shows the presence of a stimulated photon echo and a free polarization decay. This unusual result suggests that both a homogeneous and an inhomogeneous exciton distribution comprise the exciton resonance. Exciton relaxation at low excitation densities represents the interaction of the exciton with the lattice. At higher excitation densities, exciton-exciton and exciton-free carrier interactions modify the relaxation rates. The dependence of the exciton relaxation rate on excitation density shows that many-body effects play an important role in the exciton physics. Free carrier interactions are more efficient at increasing the exciton relaxation rate; both types of interactions are more important in quantum well systems than in bulk materials.
An examination of the contribution of excitons, compared to the continuum states, to the optical properties of GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells illuminates the mechanisms underlying nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction and yields information which is useful for optimizing devices which incorporate these materials. We have measured the absorption as a function of intensity at three different wavelengths—above the band edge, on the excitonic resonance, and far below the band edge—to separate the effects. We find that different well thicknesses have different saturation intensities both for excitonic and continuum absorption.
We review the nonlinear-optical effects observed at room temperature in semiconductor quantum-well structures photoexcited near the band gap. A comprehensive discussion of optical transitions in these microstructures is given, including excitonic effects and the specific features of room-temperature exciton resonances. Experimental investigations using continuous-wave, picosecond-, and femtosecond-laser sources are presented. They show extremely efficient nonlinear processes. In the case of excitations that are long compared with the exciton-ionization time, the induced changes in absorption and refraction do not depend on the wavelength or on the duration of excitation. These changes depend only on the density of absorbed photons and are interpreted in terms of electron–hole plasma screening and band filling. In contrast, for ultrashort excitation, nonlinear processes depend critically on the excitation wavelength. The selective generation of excitons is found to produce effects larger than a plasma of the same density. This unexpected result is shown to arise from the low temperature of the exciton gas before it interacts with the lattice and from the decrease of screening that is the reduced dimensionality of quantum-well structures.