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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Photon avalanche effect in quantum wells: controlling light with light

A. A. Popov, Andrei V. Ivanov, E. Yu. Perlin

Published Oct 22, 2019• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A new mechanism of controlling the absorption of high-intensity signal light with frequency $\omega $ω and intensity ${j_\omega }$jω by complementary control light with frequency $\Omega \gt {2}\omega $Ω>2ω and 2 or 3 orders of magnitude lower intensity ${j_\Omega }$jΩ is proposed. The mechanism is based on the photon avalanche effect in quantum wells. The electron concentrations in size-quantization subbands and conduction band continuum and the absorbed power of signal light are obtained as functions of the intensities ${j_\omega }$jω and ${j_\Omega }$jΩ and the time of exposure to laser radiation $t$t. It is established that the resulting dependences exhibit well-pronounced threshold behavior. For example, at ${j_\Omega }\;\sim\;{0.2 - 1}\;{\text{kW/cm}^2}$jΩ∼0.2−1kW/cm2 and $t\;\sim\;{0.1 - 5}\;\text{ns}$t∼0.1−5ns, it is possible to control the absorption of signal light, so that the absorption of this light is practically lacking at intensities ${j_\omega }$jω below the threshold intensity (${40 - 200}\;{\text{kW/cm}^2}$40−200kW/cm2) and becomes very strong at intensities above the threshold intensity. The case when control light $\Omega $Ω is the third harmonic of high-intensity signal light is also considered.

DOI
10.1364/josab.36.003117

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A new mechanism of controlling the absorption of high-intensity signal light with frequency ω\omega ωω and intensity jω{j_\omega }jω​jω by complementary control light with frequency Ω>2ω\Omega \gt {2}\omega Ω>2ωΩ>2ω and 2 or 3 orders of magnitude lower intensity jΩ{j_\Omega }jΩ​jΩ is proposed. The mechanism is based on the photon avalanche effect in quantum wells. The electron concentrations in size-quantization subbands and conduction band continuum and the absorbed power of signal light are obtained as functions of the intensities jω{j_\omega }jω​jω and jΩ{j_\Omega }jΩ​jΩ and the time of exposure to laser radiation tttt. It is established that the resulting dependences exhibit well-pronounced threshold behavior. For example, at jΩ  ∼  0.2−1  kW/cm2{j_\Omega }\;\sim\;{0.2 - 1}\;{\text{kW/cm}^2}jΩ​∼0.2−1kW/cm2jΩ∼0.2−1kW/cm2 and t  ∼  0.1−5  nst\;\sim\;{0.1 - 5}\;\text{ns}t∼0.1−5nst∼0.1−5ns, it is possible to control the absorption of signal light, so that the absorption of this light is practically lacking at intensities jω{j_\omega }jω​jω below the threshold intensity (40−200  kW/cm2{40 - 200}\;{\text{kW/cm}^2}40−200kW/cm240−200kW/cm2) and becomes very strong at intensities above the threshold intensity. The case when control light Ω\Omega ΩΩ is the third harmonic of high-intensity signal light is also considered.
Two-photon absorption spectroscopy was performed in GaAs quantum wells with photon energy \ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega} near half the band gap Eg{\mathrm{E}}_{\mathrm{g}}Eg​. For the case of incident light polarized perpendicular to the confinement direction \ensuremath{\epsilon}^\ensuremath{\perp}z^, the onset of two-photon absorption occurs at the 2P state of the lowest-energy heavy-hole exciton and the absorption increases linearly with 2\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega}-Eg{\mathrm{E}}_{\mathrm{g}}Eg​. For \ensuremath{\epsilon}^\ensuremath{\parallel}z^, the two-photon spectrum is stepped with superpositions of sharp 1S exciton features at odd \ensuremath{\Delta}N light-hole--conduction-band transitions. These results are used to accurately determine exciton binding energy, successive subband energy splittings, and band offsets.
We report an investigation of a nonlinear optical absorption phenomenon observed in LaCl3 crystals doped with Pr. When these crystals are illuminated with a laser beam of 529 nm wavelength and intensity in excess of a certain critical value, the light is strongly absorbed. The laser radiation is resonant with a Pr3+ transition from the first excited state (3H5) to a high optical state (3P1), and absorption is accompanied by strong fluorescence output from 3p1 and 3p0 to several lower-lying levels. Since the resonant transition does not include the ground state, it is not expected a priori that any absorption should occur (see Fig. 1). This is an example of the so-called photon avalanche phenomenon1.
The theory of the optical Stark effect is developed for quantum-size structures. The effect is due to the interaction of the electron system with intense light, whose frequency, (omega) , is in resonance between two subbands in the conduction band. The probe light of the frequency (Omega) falls in resonance with the adjacent transition between the ground state and the state with an electron-hole pair. In the quasi-steady-state mode, the singularities in the interband (Omega) -light absorption spectra are related to the critical points of the bands, rearranged by the (omega) - light. The shape of the higher conduction band can be evaluated from the spectral positions of the singularities. In the case of two-photon interband transitions, a sharp dependence of the absorption on the light intensity is predicted. In the non-steady-state mode, the probe beam consists of two femtosecond (Omega) -light pulses following each other with the delay time, (tau) d. The dependence of energy, absorbed from the second pulse, on the (tau) d value is calculated. Under the (omega) -pumping, one of the two phenomena should be observed, depending on the type of band structure, namely, the decay of the induced polarization with the characteristic time approximately 1/(omega) R or oscillations with the frequency approximately (omega) R, where (omega) R is the Rabi frequency. The principal effect, controlling the decay of the Rabi oscillations, is the spreading of the packet of states generated by the (Omega) -light pulse.
In the past few years advance in nanofabrication techniques have made it possible to make well-like compound semiconductor structures of low nanometer size.In these structures,the state of the electron in the direction perpendicular to the length of the well is quantized with sufficiently large separation in energy levels and the motion of the electron parallel to the length is that of a quasi-free electron.One of the most remarkable properties of these one-dimensional electron system is that the optical transitions between the size-quantized subbands are feasible.The result shows there is a large optical nonlinearities in asymmetric quantum wells.The problem of optical saturation of intersubband absorption has recently attracted considerable attention.The problem is very important to the development of superlattice devices such as fast infrared detectors and(modulators) because one needs to know the range of input optical intensities for which linear operation is(possible.) The analytical expression of the linear and the third-order nonlinear optical intersubband absorption coefficients are obtained in Pschl-Teller wells using the density matrix formalism taking into account the(intrasubband) relaxation.Since there are two adjustable parameters κ and λ in Pschl-Teller wells,the shapes of the wells will change with the change of the parameters κ and λ,accordingly the linear and the third-order nonlinear optical absorption coefficients will change with the parameters κ and λ.It is shown that the optical absorption coefficient depends on the parameter,and the optical intensity strongly. The absorption saturation will occur with I increase.Numerical results are presented for a typical AlGaAs/GaAs Pschl-Teller well.
Ultrahigh refractive indices without absorption1 and reduced absorption2 have been predicted and observed for atomic systems. We apply these considerations to semiconductor structures with complicated energy bands and strong phonon interactions. Bulk semiconductors offer limited flexibility, while quantum well structures offer the ability to tailor the dielectric response through control of the conduction subband states and the separation between heavy and light hole states. To observe high indices without absorption, Raman pumping from the ground conduction state should result in a coherent state at the bottom of heavy hole and light hole bands. The high index then exists between the first excited conduction subband and the range of separation between the holes. Since this scheme gives a large refractive index change, we can observe results by photo- or electro-reflectance. However, interactions between subbands and the strong phonon scattering may inhibit the coherent state. To observe reduced absorption without changes of refractive index, two conduction subbands should be coupled by a CO2 laser. Reduced absorption should be observable from the bottom of the hole state to the range between the two dressed states of the conduction subbands. This approach is simpler than coherent pumping, and modulated transmission offers the best chance for observation.