Coherent Optical Interactions In Semiconductors

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Coherent Optical Processes in Semiconductors was held in Cambridge, England on August 11-14,1993. The idea of holding this Workshop grew from the recent upsurge in activity on coherent transient effects in semiconductors. The development of this field reflects advances in both light sources and the quality of semiconductor structures, such that tunable optical pulses are now routinely available whose duration is shorter than the dephasing time for excitonic states in quantum wells. It was therefore no surprise to the organisers that as the programme developed, there emerged a heavy emphasis on time-resolved four-wave mixing, particularly in quantum wells. Nevertheless, other issues concerned with coherent effects ensured that several papers on related problems contributed some variety. The topics discussed at the workshop centred on what is a rather new field of study, and benefited enormously by having participants representing many of the principal groups working in this area. Several themes emerged through the invited contributions at the Workshop. One important development has been the careful examination of the two-level model of excitonic effects; a model which has been remarkably successful despite the expected complexities arising from the semiconductor band structure. Indeed, modest extensions to the two level model have been able to offer a useful account for some of the complicated polarisation dependence of four-wave mixing signals from GaAs quantum wells. This work clearly is leading to an improved understanding of excitons in confined systems.

This book introduces the basic theoretical concepts required for the analysis of the optical response of semiconductor systems in the coherent regime. It is the most instructive textbook on the theory and optical effects of semiconductors. The entire presentation is based on a one-dimensional tight-binding model. Starting with discrete-level systems, increasing complexity is added gradually to the model by including band-structure and many-particle interaction. Various linear and nonlinear optical spectra and temporal phenomena are studied. The analysis of many-body effects in nonlinear optical phenomena covers a major part of the book.

The fundamental concept of quantum coherence plays a central role in quantum physics, cutting across disciplines of quantum optics, atomic and condensed matter physics. Quantum coherence represents a universal property of the quantum s- tems that applies both to light and matter thereby tying together materials and p- nomena. Moreover, the optical coherence can be transferred to the medium through the light-matter interactions. Since the early days of quantum mechanics there has been a desire to control dynamics of quantum systems. The generation and c- trol of quantum coherence in matter by optical means, in particular, represents a viable way to achieve this longstanding goal and semiconductor nanostructures are the most promising candidates for controllable quantum systems. Optical generation and control of coherent light-matter states in semiconductor quantum nanostructures is precisely the scope of the present book. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the subject of quantum coh- ence. We are currently witnessing parallel growth of activities in different physical systems that are all built around the central concept of manipulation of quantum coherence. The burgeoning activities in solid-state systems, and semiconductors in particular, have been strongly driven by the unprecedented control of coherence that previously has been demonstrated in quantum optics of atoms and molecules, and is now taking advantage of the remarkable advances in semiconductor fabrication technologies. A recent impetus to exploit the coherent quantum phenomena comes from the emergence of the quantum information paradigm.

Based on a series of lectures at Berkeley, 1968–1969, this is the first book to deal comprehensively with all of the phenomena involving light in semiconductors. The author has combined, for the graduate student and researcher, a great variety of source material, journal research, and many years of experimental research, adding new insights published for the first time in this book. Coverage includes energy states in semiconductors and their perturbation by external parameters, absorption, relationships between optical constants, spectroscopy, radiative transitions, nonradiative recombination, processes in pn junctions, semiconductor lasers, interactions involving coherent radiation, photoelectric emission, photovoltaic effects, polarization effects, photochemical effects, effect of traps on luminescence, and reflective modulation. The author has presented the subject in a manner which couples readily to physical intuition. He introduces new techniques and concepts, including nonradiative recombination, effects of doping on optical properties, Franz-Keldysh effect in absorption and emission, reflectance modulation, and many others. Dr. Pankove emphasizes the underlying principle that can be applied to the analysis and design of a wide variety of functional devices and systems. Many valuable references, illustrative problems, and tables are also provided here.

The International Workshop on Coherent Control of Carrier Dynamics in Semiconductors was held May 19 to 22, 1998 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Its intent was to bring together an international and interdisciplinary group of scientists to discuss recent progress, pertinent problems, and open questions in the field of coherent control in atoms, molecules, and semiconductors, in particular. Twenty-seven scientists from the physical chemistry, quantum optics, semiconductor, electrical engineering, and laser communities accepted our invitation and made this event a meeting of exciting presentations and vivid discussions. This volume contains the proceedings of this workshop. Most speakers accepted our invitation to provide a manuscript either on specific aspects of their work or a brief review of their area of research. All manuscripts were reviewed. It is hoped that they provide not merely an overview of most of the issues covered during the workshop, but also represent an account of the current state of coherent control in general. Hence, it is hoped that they are also of interest to a large number of scientists active in one of the areas listed above. The organizers of this workshop would like to thank all the participants for making this meeting a complete success. We are particularly indebted to Dr. Larry R. Cooper at the U.S. Office of Naval Research and Dr.

Semiconductor nanostructures are attracting a great deal of interest as the most promising device with which to implement quantum information processing and quantum computing. This book surveys the present status of nanofabrication techniques, near field spectroscopy and microscopy to assist the fabricated nanostructures. It will be essential reading for academic and industrial researchers in pure and applied physics, optics, semiconductors and microelectronics. The first up-to-date review articles on various aspects on quantum coherence, correlation and decoherence in semiconductor nanostructures

This invaluable textbook presents the basic elements needed to understand and research into semiconductor physics. It deals with elementary excitations in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. The basic principles underlying optical nonlinearities are developed, including excitonic and many-body plasma effects. Fundamentals of optical bistability, semiconductor lasers, femtosecond excitation, the optical Stark effect, the semiconductor photon echo, magneto-optic effects, as well as bulk and quantum-confined Franz–Keldysh effects, are covered. The material is presented in sufficient detail for graduate students and researchers with a general background in quantum mechanics. This fifth edition includes an additional chapter on 'Quantum Optical Effects' where the theory of quantum optical effects in semiconductors is detailed. Besides deriving the 'semiconductor luminescence equations' and the expression for the stationary luminescence spectrum, results are presented to show the importance of Coulombic effects on the semiconductor luminescence and to elucidate the role of excitonic populations.