Coherent control of electron propagation and capture in semiconductor heterostructures
Doris E. Reiter, Eugene Ya. Sherman, Ali Najmaie +1 more
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.
Europhysics Letters (EPL)•Dec 1, 2009•9 citations