Mid-infrared efficient generation by resonant four-wave mixing in a three-coupled-quantum-well nanostructure

We present a cascade configuration for the realization of highly efficient four-wave mixing (FWM) process in an asymmetric semiconductor three-coupled-quantum-well (TCQW) structure based on intersubband transitions (ISBTs). In the proposed TCQW scheme, the efficiency of the generated FWM mid-infrared (MIR) signal is significantly enhanced and the obtained maximum efficiency is greater than 50%. The corresponding explicit analytical expressions for the input probe and generated FWM pulsed fields are derived by use of the coupled Schrödinger-Maxwell approach and the FWM efficiency versus several variables is also discussed in details. Such a semiconductor system is much more practical than its atomic counterpart because of its flexible design and the wide adjustable parameters. This nonlinear optical process in the TCQW solid-state material can be used for efficiently generating coherent short-wavelength radiation.