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Optical dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures. Quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers

Abstract

This work is focused on the optical dynamics of mesoscopic semiconductor heterostructures, using as prototypes zero-dimensional quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers which consist of quasitwo- dimensional quantum wells. Within a density matrix theory, a microscopic many-particle theory is applied to study scattering effects in these structures: the coupling to external as well as local fields, electron-phonon coupling, coupling to impurities, and Coulomb coupling. For both systems, the investigated effects are compared to experimentally observed results obtained during the past years. In quantum dots, the three-dimensional spatial confinement leads to the necessity to consider a quantum kinetic description of the dynamics, resulting in non-Markovian electron-phonon effects. This can be seen in the spectral phonon sidebands due to interaction with acoustic phonons as well as a damping of nonlinear Rabi oscillations which shows a nonmonotonous intensity and pulse duration dependence. An analysis of the inclusion of the self-interaction of the quantum dot shows that no dynamical local field terms appear for the simple two-level model. Considering local fields which have their origin in many quantum dots, consequences for a two-level quantum dot such as a zero-phonon line broadening and an increasing signal in photon echo experiments are found. For the use  More>>
Authors:
Publication Date:
Jul 01, 2008
Product Type:
Thesis/Dissertation
Report Number:
ETDE-DE-1937
Resource Relation:
Other Information: TH: Diss. (Dr.rer.nat.)
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; QUANTUM DOTS; SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS; QUANTUM WELLS; DENSITY MATRIX; COHERENT SCATTERING; ELECTRON-PHONON COUPLING; PHONONS; KINETICS; OSCILLATIONS; PULSES; SOLITONS; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; HETEROJUNCTIONS; MANY-BODY PROBLEM; ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE; COULOMB FIELD; CRYSTAL FIELD; NONLINEAR PROBLEMS; BAND THEORY; TIME DEPENDENCE; ELECTRON DENSITY; OPTICAL PUMPING; PHOTON TRANSPORT; OPACITY
OSTI ID:
21135012
Research Organizations:
Technische Univ. Berlin (Germany). Fakultaet II - Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften
Country of Origin:
Germany
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
TRN: DE09G0846
Availability:
Commercial reproduction prohibited; OSTI as DE21135012
Submitting Site:
DE
Size:
163 pages
Announcement Date:
Mar 09, 2009

Citation Formats

Weber, Carsten. Optical dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures. Quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers. Germany: N. p., 2008. Web.
Weber, Carsten. Optical dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures. Quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers. Germany.
Weber, Carsten. 2008. "Optical dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures. Quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers." Germany.
@misc{etde_21135012,
title = {Optical dynamics in low-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures. Quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers}
author = {Weber, Carsten}
abstractNote = {This work is focused on the optical dynamics of mesoscopic semiconductor heterostructures, using as prototypes zero-dimensional quantum dots and quantum cascade lasers which consist of quasitwo- dimensional quantum wells. Within a density matrix theory, a microscopic many-particle theory is applied to study scattering effects in these structures: the coupling to external as well as local fields, electron-phonon coupling, coupling to impurities, and Coulomb coupling. For both systems, the investigated effects are compared to experimentally observed results obtained during the past years. In quantum dots, the three-dimensional spatial confinement leads to the necessity to consider a quantum kinetic description of the dynamics, resulting in non-Markovian electron-phonon effects. This can be seen in the spectral phonon sidebands due to interaction with acoustic phonons as well as a damping of nonlinear Rabi oscillations which shows a nonmonotonous intensity and pulse duration dependence. An analysis of the inclusion of the self-interaction of the quantum dot shows that no dynamical local field terms appear for the simple two-level model. Considering local fields which have their origin in many quantum dots, consequences for a two-level quantum dot such as a zero-phonon line broadening and an increasing signal in photon echo experiments are found. For the use of quantum dots in an optical spin control scheme, it is found that the dephasing due to the electron-phonon interaction can be dominant in certain regimes. Furthermore, soliton and breather solutions are studied analytically in nonlinear quantum dot ensembles. Generalizing to quasi-two-dimensional structures, the intersubband dynamics of quantum cascade laser structures is investigated. A dynamical theory is considered in which the temporal evolution of the subband populations and the current density as well as the influence of scattering effects is studied. In the nonlinear regime, the scattering dependence and the importance of coherence for Rabi oscillations is investigated. The optically induced charge dynamics is discussed with respect to coherent effects. Calculations of the electronic density and pump-probe signals within a microscopic theory of dephasing show coherent transport effects such as gain oscillations, in agreement with recent experimental results. (orig.)}
place = {Germany}
year = {2008}
month = {Jul}
}