Effect of the Spatial Dispersion on the Shape of a Light Pulse in a Quantum Well

Reflectance, transmittance and absorbance of a symmetric light pulse, the carrying frequency of which is close to the frequency of interband transitions in a quantum well, are calculated. Energy levels of the quantum well are assumed discrete, and two closely located excited levels are taken into account. A wide quantum well (the width of which is comparable to the length of the light wave, corresponding to the pulse carrying frequency) is considered, and the dependance of the interband matrix element of the momentum operator on the light wave vector is taken into account. Refractive indices of barriers and quantum well are assumed equal each other. The problem is solved for an arbitrary ratio of radiative and nonradiative lifetimes of electronic excitations. It is shown that the spatial dispersion essentially affects the shapes of reflected and transmitted pulses. The largest changes occur when the radiative broadening is close to the difference of frequencies of interband transitions taken into account.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Principals of the theory of light reflection and absorption by low-dimensional semiconductor objects in quantizing magnetic fields at monochromatic and pulse excitations

The bases of the theory of light reflection and absorption by low-dimensional semiconductor objects (quantum wells, wires and dots) at both monochromatic and pulse irradiations and at any form of light pulses are developed. The semiconductor object may be placed in a stationary quantizing magnetic field. As an example the case of normal light incidence on a quantum well surface is considered. The width of the quantum well may be comparable to the light wave length and number of energy levels of electronic excitations is arbitrary. For Fourier-components of electric fields the integral equation (similar to the Dyson-equation) and solutions of this equation for some individual cases are obtained.Comment: 14 page

Influence of Anomalous Dispersion on Optical Characteristics of Quantum Wells

Frequency dependencies of optical characteristics (reflection, transmission and absorption of light) of a quantum well are investigated in a vicinity of interband resonant transitions in a case of two closely located excited energy levels. A wide quantum well in a quantizing magnetic field directed normally to the quantum-well plane, and monochromatic stimulating light are considered. Distinctions between refraction coefficients of barriers and quantum well, and a spatial dispersion of the light wave are taken into account. It is shown that at large radiative lifetimes of excited states in comparison with nonradiative lifetimes, the frequency dependence of the light reflection coefficient in the vicinity of resonant interband transitions is defined basically by a curve, similar to the curve of the anomalous dispersion of the refraction coefficient. The contribution of this curve weakens at alignment of radiative and nonradiative times, it is practically imperceptible at opposite ratio of lifetimes . It is shown also that the frequency dependencies similar to the anomalous dispersion do not arise in transmission and absorption coefficients.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Effects of inhomogeneous broadening on reflection spectra of Bragg multiple quantum well structures with a defect

The reflection spectrum of a multiple quantum well structure with an inserted defect well is considered. The defect is characterized by the exciton frequency different from that of the host's wells. It is shown that for relatively short structures, the defect produces significant modifications of the reflection spectrum, which can be useful for optoelectronic applications. Inhomogeneous broadening is shown to affect the spectrum in a non-trivial way, which cannot be described by the standard linear dispersion theory. A method of measuring parameters of both homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadenings of the defect well from a single CW reflection spectrum is suggested.Comment: 27 pages, 6 eps figures; RevTe

Octave-wide photonic band gap in three-dimensional plasmonic Bragg structures and limitations of radiative coupling

Radiative coupling between oscillators is one of the most fundamental subjects of research in optics, where particularly a Bragg-type arrangement is of interest and has already been applied to atoms and excitons in quantum wells. Here we explore this arrangement in a plasmonic structure. We observe the emergence of an octave-wide photonic band gap in the optical regime. Compared with atomic or excitonic systems, the coupling efficiency of the particle plasmons utilized here is several orders of magnitude larger and widely tunable by changing the size and geometry of the plasmonic nanowires. We are thus able to explore the regime where the coupling distance is even limited by the large radiative decay rate of the oscillators. This Bragg-stacked coupling scheme will open a new route for future plasmonic applications such as far-field coupling to quantum emitters without quenching, plasmonic cavity structures and plasmonic distributed gain schemes for spasers

Carbon nanotubes as excitonic insulators

Fifty years ago Walter Kohn speculated that a zero-gap semiconductor might be unstable against the spontaneous generation of excitons-electron-hole pairs bound together by Coulomb attraction. The reconstructed ground state would then open a gap breaking the symmetry of the underlying lattice, a genuine consequence of electronic correlations. Here we show that this excitonic insulator is realized in zero-gap carbon nanotubes by performing first-principles calculations through many-body perturbation theory as well as quantum Monte Carlo. The excitonic order modulates the charge between the two carbon sublattices opening an experimentally observable gap, which scales as the inverse of the tube radius and weakly depends on the axial magnetic field. Our findings call into question the Luttinger liquid paradigm for nanotubes and provide tests to experimentally discriminate between excitonic and Mott insulators