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physica status solidi (b)

Theory of Optical Bistability of Excitons

J. Goll, Hermann Haken

Published Oct 1, 1980• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The saturation behaviour of excitons driven by an impinging electromagnetic plane wave is investigated. The nonlinear absorption coefficient and the nonlinear refractive index are determined. Taking care of the boundary conditions at the end faces of the crystal, the nonlinear transmissivity of the crystal is determined. The phenomenon of optical bistability is investigated taking into account standing wave effects and the influence of the detuning is discussed.

DOI
10.1002/pssb.2221010206

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Role of nonlinear exciton interactions in obtaining optical bistability

Bohdan M. Nitsovich, Claudia Yu. Zenkova, S. G. Kharinovich

This paper proposes for consideration an additional mechanism for influencing the exciton absorption spectra and observing temperature redistribution peculiarities of the crystal absorptive power. They are caused by nonlinear phonon-exciton interactions, which are due to anharmonic effects in the exciton-phonon system. The arising of the borderline frequency, which possesses the smallest region of optical bistability realization, is caused by a break in the direction of the absorption curve. At low temperatures the basic role is played by the exciton-exciton interaction, and at high temperatures nonlinear exciton-exciton-phonon processes play the most important role the value of the borderline frequency is defined by the size and sign of the nonlinear exciton-exciton-phonon function as well as by the crystal temperature and the exciton density, which is created by the external powerful laser wave.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Dec 1, 1997•1 citation
Abstract The saturation behaviour of excitons driven by an impinging electromagnetic plane wave is investigated. The nonlinear absorption coefficient and the nonlinear refractive index are determined. Taking care of the boundary conditions at the end faces of the crystal, the nonlinear transmissivity of the crystal is determined. The phenomenon of optical bistability is investigated taking into account standing wave effects and the influence of the detuning is discussed.
Starting from a Hamiltonian which describes the interaction of the many-electron system of a crystal with the quantized light field, we derive nonlinear coupled equations of motion for the light-field amplitude, the electron-hole-pair amplitude, and the inversion. These equations yield the basis for the investigation of space-dependent nonlinear interaction effects between light and electrons in direct band-to-band transitions. With the aid of these equations we investigate the saturation behavior of direct band-to-band transitions for an incident monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave. We determine the nonlinear absorption coefficient and nonlinear refractive index. We compute the nonlinear transmissivity taking into account the boundary conditions at the end faces of the crystal and discuss the effect of optical bistability.
An exciton-phonon mechanism for producing cavityless optical bistability is suggested. We consider the influence of the oscillating subsystem of a crystal on the absorption process of a laser wave in the region of exciton frequencies. It is shown that exciton-phonon interaction leads to nonlinear dependence of the absorption coefficient on the density of the exciton gas. The increase of absorption with increasing exciton density, however, is possible only in the frequency region on the long-wavelength tail of the exiton band. As a result, the exciton density of the crystal becomes a hysteresis function of external parameters (intensity of the incident wave, temperature, etc.). We calculate the absorption coefficient of excitons and define the frequency and temperature regions where optical bistability may exist. We analyze different relaxation mechanisms of excitons and explain the experimental results of observing optical bistability in different semiconductor crystals.
Propagation of laser light through a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady state solutions of the Maxwell equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly-varying envelope approximation are presented showing how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. At a certain range of refractive index and extintion coefficients, computed solutions display a very susprising behaviour, and a self-reflected wave appears inside the absorber. This can be useful for a new kind of biestable device, similar to a standard bistable cavity but with the back mirror self-induced by the light.
The excitonic nonlinear refractive index was calculated by using Kramers-Kronig relation and the saturating absorption of ZnSe/CdZnSe multiple quantum wells (MQWs) was studied under different pump intensities. The maximum nonlinear refractive index change is about -6.19 X 10-3. Excitonic optical bistability in ZnSe/CdZnSe MQWs is investigated at room temperature. The result indicates that the threshold and contrast ratio for the optical bistability in ZnSe/CdZnSe MQWs are about 210Kw/cm2 and 2:1, respectively. On the basis of the excitonic nonlinear theories and excitonic absorption spectra in the ZnSe/CdZnSe MQWs, we attribute the major nonlinear mechanism of the optical bistability in the ZnSe/CdZnSe MQWs to the phase space filling of excitonic states and excitonic band broadening due to exciton-exciton interactions.
This paper proposes for consideration an additional mechanism for influencing the exciton absorption spectra and observing temperature redistribution peculiarities of the crystal absorptive power. They are caused by nonlinear phonon-exciton interactions, which are due to anharmonic effects in the exciton-phonon system. The arising of the borderline frequency, which possesses the smallest region of optical bistability realization, is caused by a break in the direction of the absorption curve. At low temperatures the basic role is played by the exciton-exciton interaction, and at high temperatures nonlinear exciton-exciton-phonon processes play the most important role the value of the borderline frequency is defined by the size and sign of the nonlinear exciton-exciton-phonon function as well as by the crystal temperature and the exciton density, which is created by the external powerful laser wave.