Subpicosecond four-wave mixing in GaAs/AlxGa1xAs quantum wells

K. Leo, E. O. Göbel, T. C. Damen, J. Shah, S. Schmitt-Rink, W. Schäfer, J. F. Müller, K. Köhler, and P. Ganser
Phys. Rev. B 44, 5726 – Published 15 September 1991
PDFExport Citation

Abstract

We investigate the properties of coherent exciton states in GaAs/AlxGa1xAs 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.

  • Received 2 August 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.44.5726

©1991 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

K. Leo, E. O. Göbel, T. C. Damen, and J. Shah

  • AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey 07733

S. Schmitt-Rink and W. Schäfer

  • AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974

J. F. Müller

  • Serin Physics Laboratory, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855

K. Köhler and P. Ganser

  • Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik, D-7800 Freiburg, Germany

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 44, Iss. 11 — 15 September 1991

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×