非对称耦合量子阱的吸收非线性增强

基于V 形三能级模型运用密度矩阵方程推导了非对称耦合量子阱三阶光学非线性极化率. 具体分析了三阶吸收非线性效率（三阶光学非线性极化率与线性吸收系数之比）随阱间电子相干振荡频率的变化规律. 理论结果表明：三阶吸收非线性效率对阱间电子相干振荡频率相当敏感，当阱间电子相干振荡频率增大时三阶吸收非线性效率显著增强，而当阱间电子相干振荡频率为零时，这种非线性效率类似于单量子阱情况. 与单量子阱相比，对于已设计好的非对称耦合量子阱结构其突出特征表现在，其非线性吸收与色散特性可经由沿材料生长方向偏压进行控制. 据此，我们预期利用这种非对称耦合量子阱结构能设计成光通信中的光限幅器和可控克尔光开关.

Enhancement of absorptive optical nonlinearity of asymmetrically coupled quantum well structures

The third-order nonlinear susceptibility $\chi ^{({3})}$ of asymmetrically coupled quantum well (ACQW) structure is calculated by employing a V-type three-level model. The efficiency of absorptive optical nonlinearity, which we define as the ratio of the third-order nonlinear susceptibility $\chi ^{({3})}$ to the linear absorptive coefficient $\alpha_0$, is analysed for different electronic coherence oscillation frequencies. We show that the efficiency is enhanced with the increase of the electronic coherence oscillation frequency between the two wells but is degenerated as that of a single quantum well when the electronic coherence oscillation frequency is zero. Compared with single quantum well, the ACQW designed has the property of nonlinear absorption and dispersion depending strongly on the external electric field along the growth direction. We predict that ACQW structures can provide both high efficiency limiters and controllable optical Kerr switch in future communication systems.