Journal of Physics Condensed Matter
Coherent control of resonant quantum well emission
N. Garro, Melissa Snelling, Simon Kennedy, R. T. Phillips, Klaus Ploog
Abstract
We have investigated the manipulation of the phase and amplitude of the state of a three-level exciton system by excitation with pairs of phase-locked optical pulses. We demonstrate coherent control over the phase of quantum beating between the light- and heavy-hole excitons which are the components of the system. The state of the system is monitored by time-resolved detection of the resonant secondary emission coupled out of the system in non-phase-matched directions by virtue of the static disorder. We show that the amplitude of the coherent manipulation must diminish as a function of time delay between the components of the pulse pair in a way which takes into account both the dephasing of the excitons and their unphasing which arises from inhomogeneous broadening.