Photon drag in single and multiple two-level quantum wells

Abstract

Starting from a density-matrix operator description we derive an expression for the photon-drag response tensor of a quantum-well system containing an arbitrary number of subbands. Subsequently we analyze the structure of the nonlinear response tensor and make a specialization to the case of a two-level quantum well. In the wake of a self-consistent calculation of the local fields in a two-level well and in multiple quantum wells the photon-drag currents are determined. We illustrate the main ingredients of our theory by carrying out a number of numerical calculations of the drag current in a 15-Å wide niobium quantum well deposited on a crystalline quartz substrate and a GaAs/Al x Ga 1Ϫx As multiple-quantum-well structure. In particular we pay attention to the frequency, angle of incidence, and number of wells dependencies of the current, and we demonstrate that local-field effects may give rise to a significant blueshift and an asymmetric form of the resonance peak.

Detuning Photon Drag in Quantum Wells Embedded in an Asymmetric Fabry-Perot Microcavity by Means of Electric Field

“…It is found from Fig. 2 that, without external bias applied, with an increase of the incoming frequency the drag current undergoes a change from negative to positive (so-called polarity of the photon drag in quantum well structures), and the zero crossing is at $1X13w 21 , which is blue shifted from the electronic resonance at w 21 due to the local-field effects [16]. Also the spectrum shows that the two peaks are quite broadened.…”

“…At the applied field of 1.0 V/mm the amplitudes of the two peaks are increased, again the zero crossing point is moved upwards in frequency, which implies that the local-field shift becomes more important with reducing the energy separation. From the previous study [16] it has been shown that the antisymmetric shape of the photon drag response tensor, characterized by H 12 H 21 À , is not affected with the change of external field strength, and since the relaxation energy is fixed, the amplitude of the response tensor is unchanged, too. Thus, the variation of the photon drag current shows the change of the internal dynamics, which manifests itself via g * x g z .…”

“…It is found that, in the absence of the quantum wells, the reflection and transmission coefficients return to the typical expressions for a three-layer structure, as expected. By Detuning Photon Drag in Quantum Wells by Means of Electric Field setting r ab and r bc to zero, the expression above is returned to that of usual quantum well structures as described before [16].…”

“…Using a local field theory the asymmetry of the spectrum has been predicted [16] and confirmed experimentally [17,18]. More recently, photon drag in microcavity has been studied and the influences of the microcavity on photon drag have been shown [19].…”

Intrinsic Optical Bistability in a Single Quantum Well Embedded in a Planar Microcavity

“…In our recent studies on quantum-well systems, it has been found that localfield effects play an important role in determining the linear absorption peak location [20], the shape of absorption spectrum [21], and nonlinear response, such as photondrag current [22] and second harmomic generation [23]. In this paper starting with an integral equation derived from the Maxwell-Lorentz equations, the expressions of the field in each layer are given.…”