Utilizing interband and intraband processes in QD-SOAs for controlling the light velocity

Physical processes in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are discussed for the purpose of controlling the velocity of light. For all-optical networking applications, control of velocity of light at bandwidths greater than 100 Gb/s is required. Using interband and ultra-fast intraband nonlinear processes, including spectral hole burning and carrier heating, present in SOAs enables the control of optical signals ranging from 1 GHz to larger than 1 THz. The rate equations for intraband effects are derived and utilized to control optical signals at THz bandwidth. Both optical and electrical control of phase shifts is obtained. An advance bandwidth product of 10 is achieved by utilizing intraband effects in QD-SOA.     

Optical spectroscopy of graphene: From the far infrared to the ultraviolet

The unique electronic structure of graphene leads to several distinctive optical properties. In this brief review, we outline the current understanding of two general aspects of optical response of graphene: optical absorption and light emission. We show that optical absorption in graphene is dominated by intraband transitions at low photon energies (in the far-infrared spectral range) and by interband transitions at higher energies (from mid-infrared to ultraviolet). We discuss how the intraband and interband transitions in graphene can be modified through electrostatic gating. We describe plasmonic resonances arising from the free-carrier (intraband) response and excitonic effects that are manifested in the interband absorption. Light emission, the reverse process of absorption, is weak in graphene due to the absence of a band gap. We show that photoluminescence from hot electrons can, however, become observable either through femtosecond laser excitation or strong electrostatic gating.     

Terahertz laser based on optically pumped graphene: Model and feasibility of realization

We consider a terahertz laser based on optically pumped graphene layer and bilayer as the active media and suggested waveguide structure. Using the developed model, we calculate the spectral dependences the dynamic conductivity of the optically pumped graphene layer and bilayer associated with the interband and intraband transitions, estimate the pumping optical power required for lasing, and demonstrate the feasibility of realization of such a laser. The article is published in the original.     

Transient intraband light absorption by quantum dots: Pump-probe spectroscopy

We have developed a theory of a transient intraband light absorption by semiconductor quantum dots. This absorption plays an important role in the two-pulse pump-probe method, which enables determining the energy relaxation rates of electron-hole excited states. We have considered all possible schemes of this process wherein the carrier frequency of optical pump pulses is close to the resonance with the interband transition of the quantum-dot electronic subsystem, while the carrier frequency of probe pulses is resonant to the intraband transition. For ensembles of identical and size-distributed quantum dots, the probe pulse energy absorption induced by the pump pulse is analyzed in relation to the delay time between the pulses. We have found that, under certain conditions, this dependence can be described by a single, two, or three exponentials. The exponents of the exponentials are proportional to the energy relaxation rates of electron-hole excited states.     

The band structure and electronic properties of sulphur nitride polymer

A semiempirical calculation of the energy band structure of (SN)_x has been made on a tight-binding model with three p orbitals per atom. An important feature is that the Fermi level crosses two overlapping conduction bands. Measurements are reported of the optical transmission spectrum between 0.2 and 4.0 eV in thin films, the free carrier reflectivity in thick films, and the hydrostatic pressure dependence of the conductivity to 15 kbar. The calculated band structure accounts for experimental results connected with interband transitions (optical absorption) and intraband effects (metallic conductivity, reflectivity, specific heat).     

The optical kerr effect in small metal particles and metal colloids: The case of gold

We first consider theoretically the various mechanisms contributing to the Kerr nonlinearity in small gold particles. The major ones are the conduction electron intraband contribution, the saturation of direct interband transitions and the change in dielectric constant due to hot photoexcited electrons. We present experimental results obtained using optical phase conjugation in gold-doped glasses. By varying several parameters, we were able to ascertain the origin of the nonlinear response: the main contributions are the hotelectron and the interband contributions. All experimental results, including saturation behaviour, are fully understood.     

Infrared probe of the electronic structure and charge dynamics of Na0.7CoO2

We present measurements of the optical spectra on Na(0.7)CoO(2) single crystals. The optical conductivity shows two broad interband transition peaks at 1.6 eV and 3.1 eV, and a weak midinfrared peak at 0.4 eV. The intraband response of conducting carriers is different from that of a simple Drude metal. A peak at low but finite frequency is observed, which shifts to higher frequencies with increasing temperature, even though the dc resistivity is metallic. The origin of the interband transitions and the low-frequency charge dynamics have been discussed and compared with other experiments.     

Exciton optical transitions in quantum wells with spin-orbit coupling

The energy spectrum of light-hole and heavy-hole excitons and optical absorption in a quantum well have been analyzed taking into account Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Interband and intraband exciton transitions have been considered. It has been shown that, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling, the probabilities of the interband and intraband photoelectric effects diverge in the vicinity of the threshold if the electron-hole interaction is neglected. The threshold probabilities of the interband and intraband photoelectric effects become finite when Coulomb interaction is taken into account.     

Quantum posts with tailored structural,electronic and optical properties for optoelectronic and quantum electronic device applications

This article reviews the fabrication, structural and optical properties of self-assembled In(Ga)As quantum posts. We introduce the growth mechanism and present the resulting structural properties and electronic structure which provides a direct route to tunable intraband transitions. We show that in the interband spectrum, sharp optical transitions, single photon emission and tailored giant electrostatic dipole moments are observed. We demonstrate that these properties can be used for an exciton memory.     

Ultrafast interband pumping of quantum‐cascade structures: A feasibility study of a THz pulse amplifier

Gain spectra of a three‐well GaAs/AlGaAs quantum‐cascade structure under interband pumping by ultrashort optical pulses are studied within the framework of the density matrix theory. A mathematical model for intersubband kinetics is derived taking into account many‐body interactions and ultrafast interband optical pumping. It is found that pulsed interband pumping leads to an increase in intersubband gain by an order of magnitude, which is characterised by 1 ps rise time and 8 ps recovery time under pumping by 100 fs pulses with a peak intensity of 100 MW/cm². Possible implementations of the concept are highlighted. The results uncover a new possibility for ultrafast switching of the material gain in quantum‐cascade structures.     

Intraband absorption and emission of light in quantum wells and quantum dots

High-resolution spectroscopy in the mid-infrared spectral range is used to study electronic transitions between size-quantization subbands in stepped quantum wells under picosecond interband excitation. The contributions from intersubband and intrasubband absorption of light are separated by using the difference in time profiles of the absorption coefficient for these cases. For stepped quantum wells, spontaneous interband luminescence and superluminescence are studied for different excitation levels. For structures with quantum dots, the intraband absorption spectra for n-and p-type structures and the spectra of photoinduced intraband absorption and emission (for polarized radiation) for undoped structures are studied.     

Electromodulation of the interband and intraband absorption of Ge/Si self-assembled islands

We have investigated the interband and the intraband absorption properties of Ge/Si self-assembled islands. The investigated structure consists of a p–i–n junction containing Ge/Si self-assembled islands embedded in a Si_0.98Ge_0.02 waveguiding layer. The variation of transmission associated with carrier injection under forward bias is monitored both in the near-infrared and in the mid-infrared spectral ranges. We show that the carrier injection leads to an absorption resonant at 185 meV which is polarized along the growth axis of the islands. This transition corresponds to an intraband optical transition from the island ground states to the two-dimensional wetting layer states. This assignment is supported by a two-dimensional band structure calculation performed in a 14 band k·p formalism. Meanwhile, the carrier injection leads to a bleaching of the interband absorption. We show that this electroabsorption spectroscopy is a useful tool for the study of self-assembled islands that is complementary of standard photoluminescence, electroluminescence or absorption spectroscopies.     

垂直电场下扭转双层石墨烯光学吸收性质的理论研究

层间扭转角度是对石墨烯物理性质宽波段可调谐的一个新参量.本文采用2°<θ<15°扭转角度下的连续近似模型,获得了不同扭转角度双层石墨烯分别在有、无电场下的能带结构,通过电子-光子相互作用跃迁速率,计算模拟了范霍夫奇点附近电子带内跃迁和带间跃迁所引起的光学吸收谱.结果表明,在无外加电场时,带间跃迁吸收峰的位置随着扭转角度的增大而发生从红外到可见光波段的蓝移,且吸收系数增大,带内跃迁的光学吸收系数相对于带间跃迁高出2个数量级;而存在外加电场时,两个范霍夫奇点在波矢空间的位置发生偏移,带间跃迁吸收峰发生分裂,且两个分裂的吸收峰位置随着电场强度的不断增大而反向行进.上述研究结果对石墨烯材料在光电器件方面的应用有一定指导作用.     

Nonlinear optical studies of the transient coherence in the Quantum Hall system

We review recent investigations of the femtosecond nonlinear optical response of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a strong magnetic field. We probe the Quantum Hall (QH) regime for filling factors ν∼1. Our focus is on the transient coherence induced via optical excitation and on its time evolution during early femtosecond timescales. We simultaneously study the interband and intraband coherence in this system by using a nonlinear spectroscopic technique, transient three-pulse four wave mixing optical spectroscopy, and a many-body theory. We observe striking differences in the temporal and spectral profile of the nonlinear optical signal between a modulation doped quantum well system (with the 2DEG) and a similar undoped quantum well (without a 2DEG). We attribute these qualitative differences to Coulomb correlations between the photoexcited electron-hole pairs and the 2DEG. We show, in particular, that intraband many-particle coherences assisted by the inter-Landau-level magnetoplasmon excitations of the 2DEG dominate the femtosecond nonlinear optical response. The most striking effect of these exciton-magnetoplasmon coherences is a large off-resonant four-wave-mixing signal in the case of very low photoexcited carrier densities, not observed in the undoped system, with strong temporal oscillations and unusually symmetric temporal profile.     

Influence of intraband motion on the interband excitation and high harmonic generation

Tunnelling, acceleration, and collision of electrons are the basic events in the process of high harmonic generation(HHG) in strong-field interaction with atoms.However, the periodic array of atoms in semiconductor structure makes three steps become interatomic coherent process which leads to complicated carrier dynamics and two sources of high harmonic emission: interband polarization and intraband current.The difference of features of high harmonic generation between semiconductors and atoms is strongly linked to the unique presence of intraband motion which manifests itself a nontrivial role in intertwined two dynamics.Here, we review recent experimental and theoretical advances of understanding coupled interband and intraband mechanisms of HHG in semiconductors.Particularly we focus on the influence of intraband motion on the interband excitation, and on the subsequent HHG emission and attosecond pulse generation.     

Pure spin photocurrents in low-dimensional structures

As is well known, the absorption of circularly polarized light in semiconductors results in optical orientation of electron spins and helicity-dependent electric photocurrent, and the absorption of linearly polarized light is accompanied by optical alignment of electron momenta. Here, we show that the absorption of unpolarized light leads to the generation of a pure spin current, although both the average electron spin and electric current vanish. We demonstrate this for direct interband and intersubband as well as indirect intraband (Drude-like) optical transitions in semiconductor quantum wells.     

控制光和信号光频差对太赫兹光非对称解复用器性能的影响

讨论了半导体光放大器中的带间效应，及载流子热效应、谱烧孔效应、双光子吸收以及超快非线性折射等带内效应对半导体光放大器的动态特性的影响，讨论了两种情况：1)保持控制光波长不变而改变信号光频率，2)保持控制光和信号光频率相同而同时改变它们的频率下半导体光放大器的增益、相位动态特性以及太赫兹光非对称解复用器的开关窗口特性。数值结果表明，为了得到较为平坦而窄的开关窗口，控制光波长应与信号光波长相同，且其与半导体光放大器增益谱中心波长的差值应该大一些。     

All optical latches using quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier

The design and performance of two optical latches, the Set-Reset (SR) latch and D-Flip-Flop has been studied. These latches are the building blocks of large optical processors. The latches are built using two optical logic operations NAND and NOT. Both NAND and NOT operations are realized by using Mach-Zhender interferometer (MZI) utilizing semiconductor optical amplifier with quantum dot active region (QD-SOA). Nonlinear dynamics including carrier heating and spectral hole-burning in the QD-SOA are taken into account together with the rate equations in order to realize the all-optical logic operations. Results show that this scheme can realize the functions of Set-Reset latch and D-Flip-Flop at high speeds (∼250 Gb/s). The dependence of the output quality (Q factor) on QD-SOA parameters is also discussed.     

From chiral vibration to static chirality in (135)Nd

Electromagnetic transition probabilities have been measured for the intraband and interband transitions in the two sequences in the nucleus (135)Nd that were previously identified as a composite chiral pair of rotational bands. The chiral character of the bands is affirmed and it is shown that their behavior is associated with a transition from a vibrational into a static chiral regime.