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

Resonant nonlinear optics in semiconductor quantum wells

John M. Arnold

Published Jun 30, 2000• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A theoretical model of a quantum well layer is described for the purpose of analysing nonlinear optical interactions between an electromagnetic plane wave propagating normal to the plane of the quantum well in the ultrafast temporal regime. The model consists of the wave equation for the electromagnetic vector potential coupled to a finite-dimensional quantum system described by the Liouville equation for the density matrix. A 3-level example which represents vector interactions in an isotropic medium is shown to be completely integrable with roational symmetry.

DOI
10.1117/12.390599

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A theoretical model of a quantum well layer is described for the purpose of analysing nonlinear optical interactions between an electromagnetic plane wave propagating normal to the plane of the quantum well in the ultrafast temporal regime. The model consists of the wave equation for the electromagnetic vector potential coupled to a finite-dimensional quantum system described by the Liouville equation for the density matrix. A 3-level example which represents vector interactions in an isotropic medium is shown to be completely integrable with roational symmetry.
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Abstract A new model for rigorous theoretical description of circularly (elliptically) polarised ultrashort optical pulse interactions with the resonant nonlinearities in semiconductor optical waveguides is proposed. The method is based on self‐consistent solution in the time domain of the vector Maxwell equations coupled via microscopic polarisation to the coherent time‐evolution equations of a discrete N‐level quantum system in terms of the real pseudospin (coherence) vector. The model is initially applied to a generic two‐level quantum system and subsequently to a 4‐level system describing the heavy‐hole excitonic transitions in low‐dimensional semiconductor systems, such as quantum wells and quantum dots. Selective optical excitation of specific spin states by predefined helicity of the optical field in the linear regime and an onset of self‐induced transparency and polarised soliton formation in the nonlinear regime are numerically demonstrated in both discrete‐level systems. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
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