Abstract

Theoretical and experimental studies have revealed the complex, inherently many-body nature of the transient resonant nonlinear optical response of excitons in GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs). The established model of these systems, the semiconductor Bloch equations (SBE), shows the importance of Coulomb and exchange interactions. But studies of the polarization dependence show behavior not predicted by the established SBE when they are extended to include the vector nature of the electromagnetic interaction. There have, however, been numerous experimental indications and theoretical predictions that biexcitons are important in the transient nonlinear response of MQWs.^1-3 These measurements rely on the polarization-selection rules for biexcitons and time ordering of the applied fields, which are different for single-photon and two-photon excitations.

© 1995 Optical Society of America