Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of Physics Condensed Matter

Signatures of the electromagnetic field quantization in the nonlinear optical response of excitons

Salvatore Savasta, R. Girlanda

Published Jul 22, 1999• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a fully quantum mechanical theory for an interacting system of photonsand Coulomb correlated electrons and holes in a semiconductor, using a pertubation series in theexciting laser field. The theory provides microscopic descriptions of nonlinear optical processes insemiconductors related to the electromagnetic field quantization. As an application of the theorywe show that it is possible to transfer the exciton exciton Coulomb correlation to photons, thusproducing pairs of near-gap photons with a high degree of quantum entanglement. The photon pairsemerge from the spontaneous optical decay of biexcitons into two polaritons. The pair intensitycorrelations, calculated in the lowdensity limit for a CuCl slab and for semiconductor microcavities,exhibit quantum features which can be observed by coincidence detection.

DOI
10.1088/0953-8984/11/31/312

Related papers

Microscopic approach to the quantized light-matter interaction in semiconductor nanostructures: Complex coupled dynamics of excitons, biexcitons, and photons

Hendrik Rose, Stefan Schumacher, Torsten Meier

We present a microscopic and fully quantized model to investigate the interaction between semiconductor nanostructures and quantum light fields including the many-body Coloumb interaction between photoexcited electrons and holes. Our approach describes the coupled dynamics of the quantum light field and single and double electron-hole pairs, i.e., excitons and biexcitons, and exactly accounts for Coulomb many-body correlations and carrier band dispersions. Using a straightforward yet exact approach, we study a one-dimensional two-band system interacting with a single-mode, two-photon quantum state within a Tavis-Cummings framework. By employing an exact coherent factorization scheme, the computational complexity is reduced significantly enabling numerical simulations. We also derive a simplified model that includes only the bound $1s$-exciton and biexciton states for comparison. Our simulations reveal distinct single- and two-photon Rabi oscillations, corresponding to photon-exciton and exciton-biexciton transitions. We demonstrate, in particular, that biexciton continuum states significantly modify the dynamics in a way that cannot be captured by simplified models that consider only bound states. Our findings emphasize the importance of a comprehensive microscopic modeling in order to accurately describe quantum optical phenomena of interacting electronic many-body systems.

arXiv:2506.22220•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 1, 2025•0 citations

Correlation effects in the excitonic optical properties of semiconductors

S. W. Koch, M. Kira, T. Meier

A microscopic many-body theory for the optical and electronic properties of semiconductors is reviewed with an emphasis on the role of correlation effects. At the semiclassical level, the semiconductor Bloch equations include many-body effects via bandgap and field renormalization as well as correlation contributions representing two electron-hole pair amplitudes, excitonic populations, and coupled interband and intraband coherences. These Coulomb interaction induced carrier correlations lead to characteristic signatures in nonlinear semiconductor spectroscopy. At the fully quantum mechanical level the dominant light-matter correlations are described by coupled semiconductor Bloch and luminescence equations. Excitonic emission properties of quantum well and microcavity systems are discussed, including effects such as coherent signatures in the secondary emission and coherent control of the emitted light.

Journal of Optics B Quantum and Semiclassical Optics•Sep 17, 2001•25 citations

Microscopic simulations of the dynamics of excitonic many-body correlations coupled to quantum light

Hendrik Rose, Polina R. Sharapova, T. Meier

The dynamics of semiconductor quantum wires and wells that are coupled to a single-mode quantum field are analyzed. Within a two-band tight-binding model the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes is included on a microscopic basis and the light-matter interaction is quantized. The dynamics of the system is described by equations of motion for the relevant set of expectation values of the coupled electronic-photonic system. Starting from the initial condition of a single photon occupying the field mode, we study the dynamics of the mean photon number. To analyze effects arising from the many-body Coulomb interaction, we use an exact truncation of the electronic hierarchy problem by employing the fact that N photons cannot excite more than N electron-hole pairs. We compare Rabi oscillations with and without Coulomb interaction for different excitation conditions. When the quantum field mode is initially occupied by two photons, two interacting electron-hole pairs, i.e., biexcitons, can be generated which characteristically modify the dynamics. Within a consistent and fully-quantized approach we show consequences of biexcitonic many-body correlations that are coupled to a quantum field and discuss the obtained dynamics.

Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics•Mar 8, 2024•2 citations

Dynamics-controlled truncation scheme for quantum optics and nonlinear dynamics in semiconductor microcavities

S. Portolan, Omar Di Stefano, Salvatore Savasta +2 more

We present a systematic theory of Coulomb-induced correlation effects in the nonlinear optical processes within the strong-coupling regime. In this paper, we shall set a dynamics controlled truncation scheme microscopic treatment of nonlinear parametric processes in semiconductor microcavities including the electromagnetic field quantization. It represents the starting point for the microscopic approach to quantum optics experiments in the strong-coupling regime without any assumption on the quantum statistics of electronic excitations (excitons) involved. We exploit a previous technique, which was used in the semiclassical context, which, once applied to four-wave mixing in quantum wells, allowed us to understand a wide range of observed phenomena. We end up with dynamical equations for exciton and photon operators, which extend the usual semiclassical description of Coulomb interaction effects in terms of a mean-field term plus a genuine noninstantaneous four-particle correlation to quantum optical effects.

arXiv:0706.2241•Physical Review B•May 5, 2008•23 citations

Biphotons from Biexcitons

Salvatore Savasta, Giovanna Martino, Omar Di Stefano +1 more

We analyze the spontaneous and stimulated optical decay of states with two electron–hole pairs virtually excited by optical pumping. We find that the photon pairs from the spontaneous fission in bulk large-gap semiconductors and in semiconductor microcavities exhibit quantum features which can be observed by coincidence detection.

physica status solidi (b)•Sep 1, 2000•0 citations

Exciton and biexciton nonlinearities in coherent four-wave mixing in semiconductor quantum wells

Hoang Ngoc Cam

The paper presents a description of two-pair correlations in an electron-hole system in laser-excited direct-gap semiconductors in terms of the exciton-boson formalism. The dependence of the states of quasi-particles on their angular momentum orientation is properly taken into account following group theory rules. It is shown for the example of heavy hole excitons in GaAs quantum wells that Coulomb two-exciton correlations include effective repulsion between excitons with nonzero total momenta and effective attraction between excitons with zero total momenta. They generate exciton and biexciton nonlinearities, respectively, in the exciton-biexciton system. The Heisenberg equations of motion derived are applied to four-wave mixing in the coherent mode. Two components of Coulomb two-exciton correlations were found to generate coherent four-wave mixing either separately, one at the cocircular and the other at the perpendicular-linear polarization of applied pulses, or jointly at parallel-linear polarization. General equations are obtained for the amplitude of four-wave mixing signals with time resolution in these polarization configurations, which, in the limit of ultranarrow pulses, reduce to analytic functions of time and excitation and sample parameters. These equations are used to analyze signal characteristics in every polarization configuration. The results give a correct picture of biexciton effects and the polarization dependence of coherent four-wave mixing in GaAs quantum wells.

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics•Feb 1, 2006•1 citation
We present a fully quantum mechanical theory for an interacting system of photonsand Coulomb correlated electrons and holes in a semiconductor, using a pertubation series in theexciting laser field. The theory provides microscopic descriptions of nonlinear optical processes insemiconductors related to the electromagnetic field quantization. As an application of the theorywe show that it is possible to transfer the exciton exciton Coulomb correlation to photons, thusproducing pairs of near-gap photons with a high degree of quantum entanglement. The photon pairsemerge from the spontaneous optical decay of biexcitons into two polaritons. The pair intensitycorrelations, calculated in the lowdensity limit for a CuCl slab and for semiconductor microcavities,exhibit quantum features which can be observed by coincidence detection.
We present a microscopic and fully quantized model to investigate the interaction between semiconductor nanostructures and quantum light fields including the many-body Coloumb interaction between photoexcited electrons and holes. Our approach describes the coupled dynamics of the quantum light field and single and double electron-hole pairs, i.e., excitons and biexcitons, and exactly accounts for Coulomb many-body correlations and carrier band dispersions. Using a straightforward yet exact approach, we study a one-dimensional two-band system interacting with a single-mode, two-photon quantum state within a Tavis-Cummings framework. By employing an exact coherent factorization scheme, the computational complexity is reduced significantly enabling numerical simulations. We also derive a simplified model that includes only the bound 1s1s1s-exciton and biexciton states for comparison. Our simulations reveal distinct single- and two-photon Rabi oscillations, corresponding to photon-exciton and exciton-biexciton transitions. We demonstrate, in particular, that biexciton continuum states significantly modify the dynamics in a way that cannot be captured by simplified models that consider only bound states. Our findings emphasize the importance of a comprehensive microscopic modeling in order to accurately describe quantum optical phenomena of interacting electronic many-body systems.
A microscopic many-body theory for the optical and electronic properties of semiconductors is reviewed with an emphasis on the role of correlation effects. At the semiclassical level, the semiconductor Bloch equations include many-body effects via bandgap and field renormalization as well as correlation contributions representing two electron-hole pair amplitudes, excitonic populations, and coupled interband and intraband coherences. These Coulomb interaction induced carrier correlations lead to characteristic signatures in nonlinear semiconductor spectroscopy. At the fully quantum mechanical level the dominant light-matter correlations are described by coupled semiconductor Bloch and luminescence equations. Excitonic emission properties of quantum well and microcavity systems are discussed, including effects such as coherent signatures in the secondary emission and coherent control of the emitted light.
The dynamics of semiconductor quantum wires and wells that are coupled to a single-mode quantum field are analyzed. Within a two-band tight-binding model the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes is included on a microscopic basis and the light-matter interaction is quantized. The dynamics of the system is described by equations of motion for the relevant set of expectation values of the coupled electronic-photonic system. Starting from the initial condition of a single photon occupying the field mode, we study the dynamics of the mean photon number. To analyze effects arising from the many-body Coulomb interaction, we use an exact truncation of the electronic hierarchy problem by employing the fact that N photons cannot excite more than N electron-hole pairs. We compare Rabi oscillations with and without Coulomb interaction for different excitation conditions. When the quantum field mode is initially occupied by two photons, two interacting electron-hole pairs, i.e., biexcitons, can be generated which characteristically modify the dynamics. Within a consistent and fully-quantized approach we show consequences of biexcitonic many-body correlations that are coupled to a quantum field and discuss the obtained dynamics.
We present a systematic theory of Coulomb-induced correlation effects in the nonlinear optical processes within the strong-coupling regime. In this paper, we shall set a dynamics controlled truncation scheme microscopic treatment of nonlinear parametric processes in semiconductor microcavities including the electromagnetic field quantization. It represents the starting point for the microscopic approach to quantum optics experiments in the strong-coupling regime without any assumption on the quantum statistics of electronic excitations (excitons) involved. We exploit a previous technique, which was used in the semiclassical context, which, once applied to four-wave mixing in quantum wells, allowed us to understand a wide range of observed phenomena. We end up with dynamical equations for exciton and photon operators, which extend the usual semiclassical description of Coulomb interaction effects in terms of a mean-field term plus a genuine noninstantaneous four-particle correlation to quantum optical effects.
The paper presents a description of two-pair correlations in an electron-hole system in laser-excited direct-gap semiconductors in terms of the exciton-boson formalism. The dependence of the states of quasi-particles on their angular momentum orientation is properly taken into account following group theory rules. It is shown for the example of heavy hole excitons in GaAs quantum wells that Coulomb two-exciton correlations include effective repulsion between excitons with nonzero total momenta and effective attraction between excitons with zero total momenta. They generate exciton and biexciton nonlinearities, respectively, in the exciton-biexciton system. The Heisenberg equations of motion derived are applied to four-wave mixing in the coherent mode. Two components of Coulomb two-exciton correlations were found to generate coherent four-wave mixing either separately, one at the cocircular and the other at the perpendicular-linear polarization of applied pulses, or jointly at parallel-linear polarization. General equations are obtained for the amplitude of four-wave mixing signals with time resolution in these polarization configurations, which, in the limit of ultranarrow pulses, reduce to analytic functions of time and excitation and sample parameters. These equations are used to analyze signal characteristics in every polarization configuration. The results give a correct picture of biexciton effects and the polarization dependence of coherent four-wave mixing in GaAs quantum wells.