Subpicosecond four-wave mixing in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • K. Leo - , Bell Laboratories Inc. (Author)
  • E. O. Göbel - (Author)
  • T. C. Damen - (Author)
  • J. Shah - (Author)
  • S. Schmitt-Rink - (Author)
  • W. Schäfer - (Author)
  • J. F. Müller - (Author)
  • K. Köhler - (Author)
  • P. Ganser - (Author)

Abstract

We investigate the properties of coherent exciton states in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum wells using the four-wave-mixing technique with subpicosecond time resolution. In the first part of this work, we show that many-body interactions in a solid manifest themselves in a line shape of the four-wave-mixing signal that is substantially different from the predictions of the generally used simple two-level model. In particular, the coherent interaction of the quasiparticles leads to a signal at negative delay times, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. In the second part, we report in detail about experiments where energetically close exciton transitions are excited coherently with a short laser pulse. The quantum or polarization interference leads to the observation of quantum beats in the decay of the diffracted signal. These results demonstrate that quantum-beat spectroscopy can be applied to study intrinsic excitations in solids. © 1991 The American Physical Society.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5726-5737
Number of pages12
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume44
Issue number11
Publication statusPublished - 1991
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 35949010985

Keywords

Library keywords