Phase evolution of solitonlike optical pulses during excitonic Rabi flopping in a semiconductor

We demonstrate that the temporal pulse phase remains essentially unaltered before separate phase characteristics are developed when propagating high-intensity pulses coherently on the exciton resonance of an optically thick semiconductor. This behavior is a clear manifestation of self-induced transmission and pulse breakup into soliton-like pulses due to Rabi flopping of the carrier density. Experiments using a novel fast-scan cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating (XFROG) method are in good agreement with numerical calculations based on the semiconductor Bloch equations.     

Optically induced rotation of an exciton spin in a semiconductor quantum dot

We demonstrate control over the spin state of a semiconductor quantum dot exciton using a polarized picosecond laser pulse slightly detuned from a biexciton resonance. The control pulse follows an earlier pulse, which generates an exciton and initializes its spin state as a coherent superposition of its two nondegenerate eigenstates. The control pulse preferentially couples one component of the exciton state to the biexciton state, thereby rotating the exciton's spin direction. We detect the rotation by measuring the polarization of the exciton spectral line as a function of the time difference between the two pulses. We show experimentally and theoretically how the angle of rotation depends on the detuning of the second pulse from the biexciton resonance.     

Exciton fine structure splitting of single InGaAs self-assembled quantum dots

We show how the resonant absorption of the ground state neutral exciton confined in a single InGaAs self-assembled quantum dot can be directly observed in an optical transmission experiment. A spectrum of the differential transmitted intensity is obtained by sweeping the exciton energy into resonance with laser photons exploiting the voltage induced Stark-shift. We describe the details of this experimental technique and some example results which exploit the 1 μeV spectral resolution. In addition to the fine structure splitting of the neutral exciton and an upper bound on the homogeneous linewidth at 4.2 K, we also determine the transition electric dipole moment.     

Quasiperiodic Bloch-like states in a surface-wave experiment

Bloch-like surface waves associated with a quasiperiodic structure are observed in a classic wave propagation experiment which consists of pulse propagation with a shallow fluid covering a quasiperiodically drilled bottom. We show that a transversal pulse propagates as a plane wave with quasiperiodic modulation, displaying the characteristic undulatory propagation in this quasiperiodic system and reinforcing the idea that analogous concepts to Bloch functions can be applied to quasicrystals under certain circumstances.     

Optical and photocurrent spectroscopy with picosecond strain pulses

This paper gives an overview of optical experiments using picosecond strain pulses. The strain pulses, which propagate with the sound velocity, are incident on a semiconductor nanostructure and induce an ultrafast shift of the exciton resonance energy by an amount, that exceeds the spectral width of the corresponding optical transition. When the duration of the high-amplitude strain pulse is long enough compared with the coherence time of the optical resonance, modulation of the resonance takes place adiabatically and exciton energy can be accurately defined at each momentary position. If the coherence time exceeds the characteristic time of the strain pulse, a non-adiabatic regime is realized and the exciton cannot be related to an optical transition with a specific photon energy. In more detail, we describe the recent experiments on the gating of photocurrent in a tunneling p-i-n device and the generation of THz polariton sidebands in an optical microcavity strongly coupled to the excitons in an embedded quantum well. These two experiments represent, respectively, examples of adiabatic and non-adiabatic behaivior of excitons in the presence of the high-amplitude picosecond strain pulse.     

The effect of plasma channel on the self-distortion of laser pulse propagating through the collisional plasma channel

In the present paper, laser pulse distortion/breakup and the effect of the plasma channel on the laser propagation through the collisional plasma have been studied by using moment theory approach. Second order nonlinear differential equations of the beam width parameter have been derived for the propagation of the laser through uniform homogenous plasma and preformed plasma channel having parabolic density profile. Differential equations of beam width parameter have been solved numerically using Runge Kutta method. It has been observed from analysis that when the laser pulse propagates through the homogenous plasma, the low intensity front and rear parts of the laser get defocused/diffracted and the high intensity central/main portion of the laser pulse gets self-guided. As a result of this, the laser pulse gets distorted. This distortion of the laser has not been observed when the laser pulse is propagated through the plasma channel having density minimum at the axis and maximum at the edges. The laser pulse is guided as a whole, even the low intensity front and rear parts of the laser are also guided. Therefore, the plasma channel is useful to prevent the distortion/breakup of the laser.     

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of excitons in semiconductor quantum wells and microcavities

Linear and nonlinear light propagation in single and multiple quantum wells and in semiconductor microresonators are studied on the basis of Maxwell’s equations. The treatment includes radiative broadening of quantum-confined excitons, radiative coupling between quantum wells as well as coupling of quantum wells to the cavity field of a microresonator for steady state or ultrashort pulse excitation. The dynamical evolution of the coherent quantum-well polarization under the influence of many-body effects is studied within a microscopic model. The theory is used to investigate the influence of exciton saturation and dephasing on pulse propagation and excitonic normal-mode coupling.     

Resonance intermolecular energy transfer near semiconductor nanoparticles

The problem of the resonance dipole-dipole interaction between two molecules near a spherical semiconductor nanoparticle is considered. It is shown that the presence of the nanoparticle results in the additional interaction between the molecules, which, under certain conditions, can significantly exceed the direct dipole-dipole interaction. This occurs in the case when the ground-state energy of an exciton is in a close resonance with the energies of molecular transitions. The effect of the additional interaction on the probability of intermolecular resonance energy transfer is especially important at large distances between molecules. The matrix elements of the interaction are estimated for nanoparticles of semiconductor materials CuCl and GaAs.     

脉冲激发三能级体系半导体量子点的单光子发射效率

研究了脉冲激发下单个半导体量子点中单光子发射的统计特性.在旋转波近似条件下，由系统粒子数演化主方程并结合量子回归理论推导了二阶相关函数的运动方程，利用此方程讨论了二阶相关函数随输入脉冲面积的关系.在窄脉冲宽度的脉冲激发下，单光子的发射概率p和效率η都随着强度的增强而产生振荡.研究表明，采用窄脉冲宽度，当输入脉冲面积在π附近时可以得到较高的单光子发射效率. 关键词： 半导体量子点 单光子发射 三能级系统     

双激子和浸润层泄漏以及俄歇俘获对量子点Rabi振荡衰减的影响

研究了脉冲激光激发下半导体量子点激子Rabi振荡中多能级过程引起的退相干特性.运用多能级粒子数运动方程组，分别计算和分析了三种多能级过程(双激子、浸润层泄漏以及俄歇俘获过程)对量子点中Rabi振荡衰减的影响.分析表明，双激子的影响在激发脉冲的脉宽较长时(>5ps)可以忽略；浸润层的泄漏虽然使得激子基态上粒子数振荡的振幅随着激发场的增强而减小，但是同时也导致了振荡平均值的减小；分析和讨论了两种俄歇俘获方式对激子振荡和复合发光的影响. 关键词： Rabi振荡 半导体量子点 退相干 俄歇俘获     

Coherent optical writing and reading of the exciton spin state in single quantum dots

We demonstrate a one-to-one correspondence between the polarization state of a light pulse tuned to neutral exciton resonances of single semiconductor quantum dots and the spin state of the exciton that it photogenerates. This is accomplished using two variably polarized and independently tuned picosecond laser pulses. The first "writes" the spin state of the resonantly excited exciton. The second is tuned to biexcitonic resonances, and its absorption is used to "read" the exciton spin state. The absorption of the second pulse depends on its polarization relative to the exciton spin direction. Changes in the exciton spin result in corresponding changes in the intensity of the photoluminescence from the biexciton lines which we monitor, obtaining thus a one-to-one mapping between any point on the Poincaré sphere of the light polarization to a point on the Bloch sphere of the exciton spin.     

Coherent control of a V-type three-level system in a single quantum dot

In a semiconductor quantum dot, the IIx and IIy transitions to the polarization eigenstates, |x> and |y>, naturally form a three-level V-type system. Using low-temperature polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy, we have investigated the exciton dynamics arising under strong laser excitation. We also explicitly solved the density matrix equations for comparison with the experimental data. The polarization of the exciting field controls the coupling between the otherwise orthogonal states. In particular, when the system is initialized into \Y>, a polarization-tailored pulse can swap the population into |x>, and vice versa, effectively operating on the exciton spin.     

Dynamic analysis of the parametric-resonance effect in the exciton region of a spectrum

The pump-probe method of studying of the optical properties of a semiconductor in the exciton region of a spectrum is considered theoretically taking into account the exciton–photon and elastic exciton–exciton interactions. It is shown that the concentration of excitons, and the susceptibility of the medium are mainly determined by the detuning from the exciton resonance and the magnitude of the pump field. The values of the parameters corresponding to the observed parametric resonance are obtained and the dynamic analysis of the found solutions is carried out.     

Modulation and compression of Nd: YAG laser pulses by self-tuning of a silicon cavity

A Nd: YAG laser pulse (20 ns halfwidth) passing a silicon crystal (0.5 mm thickness) produces refractive index changes by free carrier production. The polished crystal with parallel faces behaves therefore like a Fabry-Perot cavity with time dependent transmission. With an incident energy density of up to 300 mJ/cm² the cavity can be tuned over up to 5 resonances. The temporal shape of the transmitted pulse exhibits a corresponding number of maxima. Experimentally observed pulse shapes are compared with calculations. Deviations between theory and experiment at high energy densities are explained by increasing absorption due to the free-carriers. If the cavity is tuned over a single resonance a pulse compression can be achieved.     

Voltage-controlled optics of a quantum dot

We show how the optical properties of a single semiconductor quantum dot can be controlled with a small dc voltage applied to a gate electrode. We find that the transmission spectrum of the neutral exciton exhibits two narrow lines with approximately 2 mueV linewidth. The splitting into two linearly polarized components arises through an exchange interaction within the exciton. The exchange interaction can be turned off by choosing a gate voltage where the dot is occupied with an additional electron. Saturation spectroscopy demonstrates that the neutral exciton behaves as a two-level system. Our experiments show that the remaining problem for manipulating excitonic quantum states in this system is spectral fluctuation on a mueV energy scale.     

延时反馈半导体激光器双劈控制混沌方法研究

提出延时反馈半导体激光器双劈控制混沌方法,建立有劈控制的激光动力学物理模型.通过调节激光器外腔光路中的光器件劈去控制反馈光光程,改变了反馈光的延时时间和反馈强度,在物理上实现了延时时间和反馈强度的双参数混沌控制.数值结果证明该方法可以控制激光混沌到周期态,能使激光器输出光脉冲平均功率增加. 关键词： 混沌 控制 劈 双参数     

Slow light pulse propagation in dispersive media

We present a theoretical and numerical analysis of pulse propagation in a semiconductor photonic crystal waveguide with embedded quantum dots in a regime where the pulse is subjected to both waveguide and material dispersion. The group index and the transmission are investigated by finite-difference-time-domain Maxwell–Bloch simulations and compared to analytic results. For long pulses the group index (transmission) for the combined system is significantly enhanced (reduced) relative to slow light based on purely material or waveguide dispersion. Shorter pulses are strongly distorted and depending on parameters broadening or break-up of the pulse may be observed. The transition from linear to nonlinear pulse propagation is quantified in terms of the spectral width of the pulse. To cite this article: T.R. Nielsen et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).     

Misinterpretation yields supervelocities during transmission of wave packets through a barrier

This paper is concerned with the transmission time of an incident Gaussian wave packet through a symmetric rectangular barrier. Following Hartman (J. Appl. Phys. 33, 3427 (1962)), the transmission time is usually taken as the difference between the time at which the peak of the transmitted packet leaves the barrier of thickness and the time at which the peak of the incident Gaussian wave packet arrives at the barrier. This yields a corresponding transmission velocity which appears under certain conditions as a supervelocity, i.e. becomes larger than the corresponding propagation velocity in free space which is the group velocity for electrons or the velocity of light for photons, respectively. By analysing the propagation of a broadband wave packet (which leads in free space to an extremely concentrated wave packet at a certain time) we obtain the pulse response function of the barrier and show that the insertion of the barrier is physically unable to produce a supervelocity. Therefore, the peak of an incident Gaussian wave packet and the peak of the transmitted wave packet are in no causal relationship. The shape of the transmitted wave packet is produced from the incident wave by convolution with the pulse response of the barrier. This yields a distortion of the shape of the wave packet which includes also the observed negative time shift of the peak. We demonstrate further that the phenomenon of Hartman's supervelocities is not restricted to barriers with their exponentially decaying fields but occurs for instance also in transmission lines with an inserted LCR circuit. Received 7 January 1999 and Received in final form 22 April 1999     

Lasing behaviour from the condensation of polaronic excitons in a ZnO nanowire

Atoms under optical and magnetic trapping in a limited space at a very low temperature can lead to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC),even in a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice. However,can the confinment of dense excitons in a 1D semiconductor microstructure easily reach the excitonic BEC A lightly Mn(Ⅱ)-doped ZnO nanowire under a femtosecond laser pulse pump at room temperature produces single-mode lasing from coherent bipolaronic excitons,which is much like a macroscopic quantum state due to the condensation of the bipoaronic excitons if not real BEC. In this process,longitudinal biphonon binding with the exciton plays an important role. We revisit this system and propose possibility of bipolaronic exciton condensation. More studies are needed for this condensation phenomenon in 1D microcavity systems.     

Magnetic-field effects on exciton–polaron in a CdSe quantum disk

We study theoretically the interaction between excitons and longitudinal optical (LO) phonons in a cylindrical disk-like semiconductor quantum dot under an applied magnetic field. Due to the intensity of the interaction in the strong coupling regime, a composite quasi-particle called exciton–polaron is formed. We focus on the effect of the disk size and an external magnetic field on the exciton–phonon interaction energy and the exciton–polaron modes. The numerical computation for a CdSe quantum disk have shown that the exciton–phonon interaction energy is very significant and is even dominant when the disk height is small, which leads to a large Rabi splitting between the exciton–polaron modes. We investigate also the effect of the temperature on the integrated photoluminescence (PL) intensity, and show that at relatively high temperature the LO phonons have a noticeable effect on it. This physical parameter also shows a great dependence on quantum disk size and on magnetic field.