Polarization dependence of semiconductor exciton and biexciton contributions to phase-resolved optical two-dimensional Fourier-transform spectra

We study the coherent light-matter interactions of GaAs quantum wells associated with excitons, biexcitons and many-body effects. For most polarization configurations, excitonic features dominate the phase-resolved two-dimensional Fourier-transform (2DFT) spectra and have dispersive lineshapes, indicating the presence of many-body interactions. For cross-linear excitation, excitonic features become weak and absorptive due to the strong suppression of many-body effects; a result that can not be directly determined in transient four-wave mixing experiments. The biexcitonic features do not weaken for cross-polarized excitation and thus are more important.Comment: 4 page, 3 figures, journal article - rapid communicatio

All-optical retrieval of the global phase for two-dimensional Fourier-transform spectroscopy

A combination of spatial interference patterns and spectral interferometry are used to find the global phase for non-collinear two-dimensional Fourier-transform (2DFT) spectra. Results are compared with those using the spectrally resolved transient absorption (STRA) method to find the global phase when excitation is with co-linear polarization. Additionally cross-linear polarized 2DFT spectra are correctly phased using the all-optical technique, where the SRTA is not applicable.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, journal publicatio

Optical Detection of a Single Nuclear Spin

We propose a method to optically detect the spin state of a 31-P nucleus embedded in a 28-Si matrix. The nuclear-electron hyperfine splitting of the 31-P neutral-donor ground state can be resolved via a direct frequency discrimination measurement of the 31-P bound exciton photoluminescence using single photon detectors. The measurement time is expected to be shorter than the lifetime of the nuclear spin at 4 K and 10 T.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Electron-phonon renormalization of the absorption edge of the cuprous halides

Compared to most tetrahedral semiconductors, the temperature dependence of the absorption edges of the cuprous halides (CuCl, CuBr, CuI) is very small. CuCl and CuBr show a small increase of the gap $E_0$ with increasing temperature, with a change in the slope of $E_0$ vs. $T$ at around 150 K: above this temperature, the variation of $E_0$ with $T$ becomes even smaller. This unusual behavior has been clarified for CuCl by measurements of the low temperature gap vs. the isotopic masses of both constituents, yielding an anomalous negative shift with increasing copper mass. Here we report the isotope effects of Cu and Br on the gap of CuBr, and that of Cu on the gap of CuI. The measured isotope effects allow us to understand the corresponding temperature dependences, which we also report, to our knowledge for the first time, in the case of CuI. These results enable us to develop a more quantitative understanding of the phenomena mentioned for the three halides, and to interpret other anomalies reported for the temperature dependence of the absorption gap in copper and silver chalcogenides; similarities to the behavior observed for the copper chalcopyrites are also pointed out.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Probing Interband Coulomb Interactions in Semiconductor Nanocrystals with 2D Double-Quantum Coherence Spectroscopy

Using previously developed exciton scattering model accounting for the interband, i.e., exciton-biexciton, Coulomb interactions in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), we derive a closed set of equations for 2D double-quantum coherence signal. The signal depends on the Liouville space pathways which include both the interband scattering processes and the inter- and intraband optical transitions. These processes correspond to the formation of different cross-peaks in the 2D spectra. We further report on our numerical calculations of the 2D signal using reduced level scheme parameterized for PbSe NCs. Two different NC excitation regimes considered and unique spectroscopic features associated with the interband Coulomb interactions are identified.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Two-dimensional Fourier-transform spectroscopy of potassium vapor

Optical two-dimensional Fourier-transform (2DFT) spectroscopy is used to study the coherent optical response of potassium vapor in a thin transmission cell. Rephasing and nonrephasing spectra of the D 1 and D 2 transitions are obtained and compared to numerical simulations. Non-perturbative calculations using the optical Bloch equations give very good agreement with the experimental peak strengths and line shapes. Nonradiative Raman-like coherences are isolated using a different 2DFT projection. Comparison between the optical and Raman linewidths shows that dephasing is due to partially correlated energy fluctuations. Density-dependent measurements show distortion of 2DFT spectra due to pulse propagation effects

Photoluminescence studies of isotopically enriched silicon

We report the first high resolution photoluminescence studies of isotopically pure silicon. New information is obtained on isotopic effects on the indirect band gap energy, phonon energies, and phonon broadenings, which is in good agreement with previous results obtained in germanium and diamond. Remarkably, the line widths of the no-phonon boron and phosphorus bound exciton transitions in the Si-28 sample (99.896% Si-28) are much sharper than in natural Si, revealing new fine structure in the boron bound exciton luminescence. Most surprisingly, the small splittings of the neutral acceptor ground state in natural Si are absent in the photoluminescence spectra of acceptor bound excitons in isotopically purified Si- 28, demonstrating conclusively that they result from the randomness of the Si isotopic composition