Third-harmonic generation in asymmetric coupled quantum wells

The third-harmonic generation (THG) in asymmetric coupled quantum wells (ACQWs) for different values of the well parameter Δ$\Delta$ and width of barrier (_WB)$\left(W_B\right)$ are theoretically studied. The analytical expression of the third-harmonic generation is derived by using the compact density-matrix approach and the iterative method. Finally, the numerical calculations are presented for typical GaAs/Al_xGa_1−xAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells. Results obtained show that the third-harmonic generation in the asymmetric coupled quantum wells can be importantly modified by the parameter Δ$\Delta$ and _WB$W_B$. Moreover, third-harmonic generation also depends on the relaxation rate of the asymmetric coupled quantum wells.     

Studies on the second-harmonic generations in cubical quantum dots with applied electric field

The second-harmonic generation (SHG) coefficient for cubical quantum dots (CQDs) with the applied electric field is theoretically investigated. Using the compact density-matrix approach and the iterative method, we get the analytical expression of the SHG coefficient. And the numerical calculations for the typical GaAs/AlAs CQDs are presented. The results show that the SHG coefficient can reach the magnitude of 10⁻⁵ m/V, about two orders higher than that in spherical quantum dot system. More importantly, the SHG coefficient is not a monotonic function of the length L of CQDs as well as the applied field F. If we select suitable values of F and L, we will get a higher value of the SHG coefficient. In addition, the relaxation rate also affects the SHG coefficient obviously.     

The infrared spin-galvanic effect in semiconductor quantum wells

The spin-galvanic effect generated by homogeneous optical excitation with infrared circularly polarized radiation in quantum wells (QWs) is reviewed. The spin-galvanic current flow is driven by an asymmetric distribution of spin-polarized carriers in k-space of systems with lifted spin degeneracy due to k-linear terms in the Hamiltonian. Spin photocurrents provide methods to investigate the spin-splitting of the band structure and to make conclusion on the in-plane symmetry of QWs.     

Standing waves and resonance transport mechanism in quantum networks

One-electron spin-dependent scattering problem is considered on the star-shaped 2-d quantum network consisting of a quantum well and few relatively thin leads attached to it. The resonance nature of transmission coefficients is revealed based on accurate analysis of interaction between the running spin-waves in the leads and the standing spin-waves in the quantum well. Modeling of the transport problem on the two-dimensional junction by the 1-d scattering problem on the corresponding quantum graph is discussed.     

Zero field spin splitting in asymmetric quantum wells

Spin splitting of asymmetric quantum wells is theoretically investigated in the absence of any electric field, including the contribution of interface-related Rashba spin-orbit interaction as well as linear and cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. The effect of interface asymmetry on three types of spin-orbit interaction is discussed. The results show that interface-related Rashba and linear Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction can be increased and cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction can be decreased by well structure design. For wide quantum wells, the cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction dominates under certain conditions, resulting in decreased spin relaxation time.     

Generation of quantum switch and nonlocal fields with an external field in a high quality dispersive cavity

We present a scheme to prepare an optical “quantum switch”, a superposition of “open” and “closed” states. The scheme is based on the interaction of an Λ-type three-level atom with a single-mode of quantized cavity field and an external classical driving field, in the regime where the atom and fields are highly detuned. We show how this interaction can be used to generate coherent states of the cavity field in contrast to the usual method used in microwave cavity QED of injecting a coherent state into a cavity. A combination of switches could be used to prepare a quantum superposition of coherent field states located simultaneously in two cavities. Compared with previous proposals, our scheme is simplified due to economizes the Ramsey zone and the time required for the state generation is short.     

Tunneling-induced enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity in asymmetric quantum wells

We propose an asymmetric AlGaAs/GaAs double quantum wells (QWs) structure for realizing the enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity. It is found, with resonant tunneling, that the self-Kerr nonlinearity can be clearly enhanced, while the absorption of probe field is very small and can be safely neglected. We attribute the enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity mainly to the constructive interference induced by resonant tunneling.     

Electronic molecule-like spectrum of quantum wells in crossed fields

We show that an electron confined to a single finite parabolic quantum well in crossed electric and magnetic fields can behave as a double quantum well system. The magnetic field is parallel to the heterostructure layers and the electric field is perpendicular to those. For a suitable choice of both fields and quantum well width, the electron can be confined to a double quantum well effective potential that is very similar to the electronic potential model for diatomic molecules. The double quantum well spectrum is calculated using a numerical algorithm based on semiclassical methods. A physical interpretation of this quantum system is given based on the analogy to the electrons bound to diatomic molecules.     

Optically detected electrophonon resonance effects in quantum wells

Optical detected electrophonon resonance (ODEPR) effects in quantum wells of n-GaAs materials are investigated for square potential and parabolic potential, respectively. We also obtain the ODEPR conditions as functions of confinement frequency in parabolic potential and well-width in square potential for the various photon frequencies, respectively. In particular, anomalous behaviors of the ODEPR lineshape such as the splitting of ODEPR peaks for incident photon frequency are discussed. Furthermore, we obtain the selection rules for transition in quantum wells of two different potentials, respectively.     

Linear and nonlinear intersubband optical absorption and refractive index change in asymmetrical semi-exponential quantum wells

Linear and nonlinear intersubband optical absorption and refractive index change in asymmetrical semi-exponential quantum wells are theoretically investigated within the framework of the compact–density–matrix approach and iterative method. The wave functions are obtained by using the effective mass approximation. The energy levels are obtained by numerical method. It is found that the optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes are strongly affected not only by σ   and _U0$U_0$, but also by the incident optical intensity.     

Second-harmonic generation spectroscopy on quantum wells: Au on Si(111)

×):Au-structure prior to film growth leads to increased amplitude in the oscillations indicating improved growth characteristics compared to the 7×7 substrate. The position of the maxima shifts towards lower coverage and the oscillation period decreases with increasing pump frequency. This behaviour is an unambiguous signature of quantum well resonances and, hence, clearly demonstrates that Au deposition on Si(111)(×):Au leads to well-defined quantum well structures with atomically flat interfaces. Furthermore, the rotationally anisotropic contribution to SHG also shows coverage oscillations as a result of quantum well effects and demonstrates the presence of structural order. Received: 12 October 1998     

Second harmonic generation in a disk shaped quantum dot in the presence of spin-orbit interaction

The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficients for a disk shaped quantum dot (DSQD) in the magnetic field are studied in the presence of spin-orbit interactions (SOI). The spin-orbit terms we have used in our calculations are both Rashba and Dresselhaus. We have shown that the presence of SOI modifies the SHG terms. In addition, it has been shown that SOI coupling terms influence the spectrum of DSQD resulting in defined changes in the harmonic generation.     

Optically induced level anticrossing in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs coupled double quantum wells

We report a photoluminescence detected anticrossing of the energy levels in an undoped asymmetric coupled-double-quantum-well buried in a p-i-n structure. Due to the built-in electric field, the quantum wells are tilted in such a way that the symmetric energy level is higher than that of the antisymmetric one in the conduction band. Keeping the laser excitation energy below the barrier, with increasing laser power, the level anticrossing and the quantum confined Stark effect were observed due to decreasing built-in electric field by the photogenerated electron and hole pairs.     

Rashba spin-splitting in narrow gap III–V semiconductor quantum wells

Using Kane's 8-band k·p theory and the envelope function approximation we derive a tight binding Hamiltonian for III–V semiconductor quantum well structures, which accurately models band structure and spin–orbit coupling. By applying a potential difference across the well we have calculated the Rashba spin-splitting in the lowest conduction subband. For identical well widths the Rashba splitting in InSb is shown to be approximately twice that of InAs and, in all cases, passes through a weak maximum with increasing quasimomentum.     

Self-consistent approach for calculations of exciton binding energy in quantum wells

We introduce a computationally efficient approach to calculating characteristics of excitons in quantum wells. In this approach we derive a system of self-consistent equations describing the motion of an electron–hole pair. The motion in the growth direction of the quantum well in this approach is separated from the in-plane motion, but each of them occurs in modified potentials found self-consistently. The approach is applied to shallow quantum wells, for which we obtained an analytical expression for the exciton binding energy and the ground state eigenfunction. Our numerical results yield lower exciton binding energies in comparison to standard variational calculations, while require reduced computational effort.     

Dielectric mismatch and shallow donor impurities in GaN/HfO2 quantum wells

In this work we investigate electron–impurity binding energy in GaN/HfO₂ quantum wells. The calculation considers simultaneously all energy contributions caused by the dielectric mismatch: (i) image self-energy (i.e., interaction between electron and its image charge), (ii) the direct Coulomb interaction between the electron–impurity and (iii) the interactions among electron and impurity image charges. The theoretical model account for the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the results shows how the magnitude of the electron–impurity binding energy depends on the position of impurity in the well-barrier system. The role of the large dielectric constant in the barrier region is exposed with the comparison of the results for GaN/HfO₂ with those of a more typical GaN/AlN system, for two different confinement regimes: narrow and wide quantum wells.     

Determination of electron effective mass from optical transition energy in InGaAs/InAlAs quantum wells

Nonparabolic effective mass of conduction subbands in InGaAs/InAlAs quantum wells (QWs), lattice-matched to InP, was quantitatively obtained by analyzing interband-optical transition spectra. Thickness of InGaAs well was 5.3, 9.4, and . Thickness of InAlAs barrier was about , and each QW was independent. Excellent agreement was obtained between experimental mass and theoretical mass predicted by Kane's three-level band theory on bulk InGaAs, in a wide energy range of from the bandedge. Method of experimental analysis on a relation between eigen energy and effective mass was described.     

Spatial evolution of the generation and relaxation of excited carriers near the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect

We have measured the generation and relaxation of excited carriers along their drift direction near the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect (QHE). The dissipative resistivity ρ_xx(x) at current densities close to the critical value for the QHE breakdown was measured as a function of the distance x from the electron injection at x=0. By injecting “cold” electrons into constrictions at supercritical current levels, the evolution of the breakdown along the drift direction was monitored. After a smooth increase of the resistivity with the drifting distance, an avalanche-like rise towards a saturation value occurs. Drastic changes of the resistivity profiles with the applied current were found in a narrow range around the critical current. The observed behavior is attributed to impurity-assisted tunneling between Landau levels. By injecting hot electrons (excited in a periodic set of constrictions) into a region with subcritical current density, the relaxation process was analyzed. Inelastic relaxation lengths with typical values in the range from 0.3 to 4 μm were found, which agree within 10% with the elastic mean free path determined from the Hall mobility at zero magnetic field. We conclude that the energy relaxation process is triggered by scattering at impurity potentials.     

Properties of InGaN/GaN quantum wells and blue light emitting diodes

We have reported the effects of growth interruption time on the optical and structural properties of high indium content In_xGa_1−xN/GaN (x>0.2) multilayer quantum wells (QWs). The InGaN/GaN QWs were grown on c-plane sapphire by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The interruption was carried out by closing the group-III metal organic sources before and after the growth of the InGaN QW layers. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show that with increasing interruption time, the quantum-dot-like region and well thickness decreases due to indium reevaporation or the thermal etching effect. As a result the photoluminescence (PL) peak position was blue-shifted and the intensity was reduced. The sizes and number of V-defects did not differ with the interruption time. The interruption time is not directly related to the formation of defects. The V-defect originates at threading dislocations and inversion domain boundaries due to higher misfit strain. Temperature dependent PL spectra support the results of TEM measurements. Also, the electroluminescence spectra of light-emitting diode show that dominant mechanism in InGaN/GaN QWs is a localized effect in the quantum-dot-like regions.     

A novel multi-optical/quantum memory and encoding system using multi-photon generation

We propose a novel system of an optical/quantum memory generation, which can be used for multi-optical/quantum memory applications. The large bandwidth of a single pulse is generated using a soliton pulse in a Kerr-type nonlinear medium, i.e. a nonlinear waveguide. The generation of the localized temporal and spatial soliton pulses within the nano-waveguide is achieved. The free spectrum range enhancement of the generated multi-soliton signals can be formed and achieved using the nano-waveguide incorporating the Mach Zhender Interferometer (MZI). The different light path of the soliton pulses is introduced by the delayed lines of the interferometer. This improves the wavelength free spectrum range, where the different entangled photon pairs can also obtained. Furthermore, the generated photons can be filtered and stored within a system, where the storage of single or multi-photons using the proposed system can be achieved, which in turn can be used for multi-optical/quantum memory applications.