An all-optical event horizon in an optical analogue of a Laval nozzle

Exploiting the fact that light propagation in defocusing nonlinear media can mimic the transonic flow of an equivalent fluid, we demonstrate experimentally the formation of an all-optical event horizon in a waveguide structure akin to a hydrodynamic Laval nozzle. The analogue event horizon, which forms at the nozzle throat is suggested as a novel platform for analogous gravity experiments

Power dependent switching of nonlinear trapping by local photonic potentials

We study experimentally and numerically the nonlinear scattering of wave packets by local multi-site guiding centers embedded in a continuous dielectric medium, as a function of the input power and angle of incidence. The extent of trapping into the linear modes of different sites is manipulated as a function of both the input power and incidence angle, demonstrating power-controlled switching of nonlinear trapping by local photonic potentials.Comment: Submitted to Optics Letter

Dynamics of fluctuations in an optical analog of the Laval nozzle

Using the analogy between the description of coherent light propagation in a medium with Kerr nonlinearity by means of nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation and that of a dissipationless liquid we propose an optical analogue of the Laval nozzle. The optical Laval nozzle will allow one to form a transonic flow in which one can observe and study a very unusual dynamics of classical and quantum fluctuations including analogue of the Hawking radiation of real black holes. Theoretical analysis of this dynamics is supported by numerical calculations and estimates for a possible experimental setup are presented.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Trace as an alternative decategorification functor

Categorification is a process of lifting structures to a higher categorical level. The original structure can then be recovered by means of the so-called "decategorification" functor. Algebras are typically categorified to additive categories with additional structure and decategorification is usually given by the (split) Grothendieck group. In this expository article we study an alternative decategorification functor given by the trace or the zeroth Hochschild--Mitchell homology. We show that this form of decategorification endows any 2-representation of the categorified quantum sl(n) with an action of the current algebra U(sl(n)[t]) on its center.Comment: 47 pages with tikz figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1405.5920 by other author

Asymmetry to symmetry transition of Fano line-shape: Analytical derivation

An analytical derivation of Fano line-shape asymmetry ratio has been presented here for a general case. It is shown that Fano line-shape becomes less asymmetric as \q is increased and finally becomes completely symmetric in the limiting condition of q equal to infinity. Asymmetry ratios of Fano line-shapes have been calculated and are found to be in good consonance with the reported expressions for asymmetry ratio as a function of Fano parameter. Application of this derivation is also mentioned for explanation of asymmetry to symmetry transition of Fano line-shape in quantum confined silicon nanostructures.Comment: 3 figures, Latex files, Theoretica

Spin sensitive bleaching and monopolar spin orientation in quantum wells

Spin sensitive bleaching of the absorption of far-infrared radiation has been observed in $p$-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures. The absorption of circularly polarized radiation saturates at lower intensities than that of linearly polarized light due to monopolar spin orientation in the first heavy hole subband. Spin relaxation times of holes in $p$-type material in the range of tens of ps were derived from the intensity dependence of the absorption.Comment: Figures have been updated due to technical printing problems (Postscript mismatch

Free induction signal from biexcitons and bound excitons

A theory of the free induction signal from biexcitons and bound excitons is presented. The simultaneous existence of the exciton continuum and a bound state is shown to result in a new type of time dependence of the free induction. The optically detected signal increases in time and oscillates with increasing amplitude until damped by radiative or dephasing processes. Radiative decay is anomalously fast and can result in strong picosecond pulses. The expanding area of a coherent exciton polarization (inflating antenna), produced by the exciting pulse, is the underlying physical mechanism. The developed formalism can be applied to different biexciton transients.Comment: RevTeX, 20 p. + 2 ps fig. To appear in Phys. Rev. B1

Ultrafast Coulomb-induced dynamics of 2D magnetoexcitons

We study theoretically the ultrafast nonlinear optical response of quantum well excitons in a perpendicular magnetic field. We show that for magnetoexcitons confined to the lowest Landau levels, the third-order four-wave-mixing (FWM) polarization is dominated by the exciton-exciton interaction effects. For repulsive interactions, we identify two regimes in the time-evolution of the optical polarization characterized by exponential and {\em power law} decay of the FWM signal. We describe these regimes by deriving an analytical solution for the memory kernel of the two-exciton wave-function in strong magnetic field. For strong exciton-exciton interactions, the decay of the FWM signal is governed by an antibound resonance with an interaction-dependent decay rate. For weak interactions, the continuum of exciton-exciton scattering states leads to a long tail of the time-integrated FWM signal for negative time delays, which is described by the product of a power law and a logarithmic factor. By combining this analytic solution with numerical calculations, we study the crossover between the exponential and non-exponential regimes as a function of magnetic field. For attractive exciton-exciton interaction, we show that the time-evolution of the FWM signal is dominated by the biexcitonic effects.Comment: 41 pages with 11 fig