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Microscopic Theory of Rabi Flopping, Photon Echo, and Resonant Pulse Propagation in Semiconductors
Author(s) -
Koch S. W.,
Knorr A.,
Binder R.,
Lindberg M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.2221730118
Subject(s) - rabi frequency , rabi cycle , physics , semiconductor , femtosecond , photon , pulse (music) , excitation , atomic physics , exciton , bloch equations , resonance (particle physics) , condensed matter physics , quantum mechanics , laser , quantum , voltage
The phenomena of Rabi oscillations, resonant pulse propagation, and photon echo in semiconductors are investigated by numerically solving the full semiconductor Bloch equations for the example of bulk CdSe. The calculations are done for resonant femtosecond excitation at the exciton resonance. The many‐body modifications of Rabi flopping and semiconductor photon echo are discussed for a thin medium, whereas the propagation of weak and strong pulses is analyzed for an extended material. Rabi flopping of the density can lead to field reamplification and thus to long propagation distances of sufficiently strong pulses and to pulse break‐up. The area theorem known from self‐induced transparency (SIT) in atomic systems is generalized for the case of phase modulated fields and shown to be modified significantly in semiconductors. Even though no ideal SIT occurs, the Coulomb interacting electron–hole system nevertheless seems to support extremely long propagation distances of so‐called π‐pulses.