Coherent control of Bloch oscillations by means of optical pulse shaping
Abstract
We excite excitonic wavepackets in biased semiconductor superlattices with spectrally-shaped ultrashort optical pulses. We tailor the shape and phase of the pulse spectrum in order to control the coherent dynamics of the excitonic wavepackets formed from a superposition of three excitonic states. Via careful shaping, we are able to excite either wavepackets that exhibit standard Bloch oscillations (BOs) or breathing mode (BM) motion. These two type of motion are characterized by the presence (BOs) or absence (BM) of an internal intraband polarization caused by the electron-hole separation within the excitonic wavepacket. The wavepacket evolution is monitored using spectrally-resolved four wave mixing. This ability to control the BOs provides a way to control the emitted THz radiation.
- Publication:
-
APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- March 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004APS..MAR.K1085F