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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Coherent control of interband transitions in semiconductor heterostructures

Xuedong Hu, Walter Poetz

Published Apr 23, 1998• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Schemes for coherent control of carrier dynamics in semiconductors are investigated theoretically. We consider coherent control of carrier generation and charge oscillations by quantum interference of one- and three-photon absorption, as well as one- and two-photon absorption. It is shown that, for coherent light pulses shorter than characteristic phase breaking times, the relative phase between the two excitation routes can be used to control the extent of charge oscillations in semiconductor double wells. Furthermore, we show that optical gain and absorption can be controlled coherently by two coherent light fields. In particular, optical gain can be shifted from one intersubband transition to another.

DOI
10.1117/12.306169

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Schemes for coherent control of carrier dynamics in semiconductors are investigated theoretically. We consider coherent control of carrier generation and charge oscillations by quantum interference of one- and three-photon absorption, as well as one- and two-photon absorption. It is shown that, for coherent light pulses shorter than characteristic phase breaking times, the relative phase between the two excitation routes can be used to control the extent of charge oscillations in semiconductor double wells. Furthermore, we show that optical gain and absorption can be controlled coherently by two coherent light fields. In particular, optical gain can be shifted from one intersubband transition to another.
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We investigate theoretically coherent control of optical absorption and emission (optical gain) in semiconductor double wells by use of two coherent light sources. Our analysis is based on a microscopic theory of optical excitation in semiconductors which accounts for many-body effects. Specifically, we show that electron–hole pair (exciton) formation in an asymmetric double well can be controlled by intensity and phase of a dc microwave (MW) field if the pulse duration lies below the MW-induced Rabi period. Similarly, resonant MW fields are shown to allow control of intersubband absorption and emission spectra of semiconductor heterostructures.
We theoretically study the use of quantum interference to coherently control the transverse direction in which carriers are optically injected in a semiconductor heterostructure, and the subsequent transport and capture of these carriers. We consider a structure consisting of three quantum wells, where carriers can be ejected from the middle one in a given direction by coherently controlled optical pulse excitations. After traveling through the barrier, electrons are slowed down by space-charge effects, and can be captured in the side wells by emitting a phonon. If the side wells are different, the coherent control of the injection can be monitored optically. We propose a design of a AlGaAs heterostructure for a possible experimental realization of the effects considered in this paper.
Structural coherent control is used to design open semiconductor heterostructures whose intersubband absorption displays either single-slit or double-slit quantum interference. In this theoretical study we show that in the ``double-slit'' structure, optical intersubband absorption of a light pulse can be modified by adjustment of the phase of a control field. By careful choice of the steady-state subband population via charge transport through the heterostructure, an incident pump pulse can either be amplified or attenuated. This coherent control mechanism is absent in the ``single-slit'' structure. Our results and physical interpretation are based on a microscopic self-consistent semiclassical theory of the light-matter interaction in semiconductors and the use of a gauge which allows direct physical interpretation of the electron kinetic equations.