Mechanisms of ultrafast coherent all-optical polarization switch in semiconductors

Wenfeng Wang; Min Zhai; Jun Zhang; Yong Chen; Yongchao Gan

doi:10.1117/12.823067

19 February 2009 Mechanisms of ultrafast coherent all-optical polarization switch in semiconductors

Wenfeng Wang, Min Zhai, Jun Zhang, Yong Chen, Yongchao Gan

Proceedings Volume 7279, Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings (POEM) 2008: Optoelectronic Devices and Integration; 727918 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.823067
Event: Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings, 2008, Wuhan, China

Abstract

Within the framework of light-semiconductor interaction and the Lutting-Kohn model for the semiconductor band structure, we theoretically studied the mechanism of the polarization switch with coherent transient features. The result shows, in the coherent limitation, when the pump pulse E_p and signal pulse E_s are orthogonal polarized, the third order polarization P⁽³⁾, with first order of E_s and second order of |E_p|, approach to zero, due to the destructive quantum interference, which results in an ultrafast pump-signal relative polarization dependent P⁽³⁾, therewith a polarization switch. The study also shows that, when the light interacts with semiconductors coherently, the polarization state of the light is transferred to the relative phase of the electron spin, rather than the electron spin itself. The population of the polarization eigenstate excited by the pump pulse, do not origin from the Coulomb force of electrons, and should not thought phenomenologically as the exciton characterized by light polarization. This population will dephase to real carriers population, i.e. electron with exact spin |↑> or |↓>, by losing phase coefficients of the polarization eigenstates, in an ultrashort quantum dephase time.

Citation Download Citation

Wenfeng Wang, Min Zhai, Jun Zhang, Yong Chen, and Yongchao Gan "Mechanisms of ultrafast coherent all-optical polarization switch in semiconductors", Proc. SPIE 7279, Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings (POEM) 2008: Optoelectronic Devices and Integration, 727918 (19 February 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.823067

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