Surface Plasmon Wave Manipulated by Quantum Coherence of Multilevel Quantum Dots

Abstract

Abstract-An EIT (electromagnetically induced transparency)-based prism coupler is suggested for realizing tunable reflection spectrum via quantum coherence of phases in a multilevel system, where destructive and constructive quantum interference will occur among multilevel transition pathways that are driven by two external control fields. In this prism coupler, a semiconductor-quantum-dot (SQD) medium layer, which can exhibit EIT and relevant quantum coherent effects, bounds the prism base, and the two external control fields are used to manipulate the probe field and the excited surface plasmon wave (on the SQD layer surface). Then the surface plasmon wave modes, which are generated by the probe field incident into this multilevel SQD medium layer, can be coherently tunable through the switchable quantum interference (destructive and constructive quantum interference) among the energy levels in the SQD systems. Such switchable quantum interference can be realized if we tune the intensities (i.e., adjust a proper intensity ratio) of the two control fields that drive the SQD multilevel EIT system. New switchable photonic devices, which could find applications in photonic microcircuits as well as some areas in integrated optical circuits, could be designed based on this quantum-interference switchable surface plasmon resonance.