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Time-Resolved Femtosecond Intersubband Relaxations and Population Inversion in Stepped Quantum Wells

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Hot Carriers in Semiconductors

Abstract

The generation of coherent far-infrared radiation in superlattices or multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures has been a goal for many years. The use of intersubband transitions to generate coherent mid-infrared radiation was first successfully demonstrated by J. Faist et al. [1]. However, new structures are needed to generate radiation in the 30–300 mm regime (1–10 THz). In this paper, we demonstrate how a stepped quantum well structure can modify the intersubband relaxation rates, allowing a population inversion between subbands to be achieved. We measured the intersubband relaxation rates in the stepped quantum well with femtosecond differential transmission spectroscopy and experimentally observed the population inversion.

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© 1996 Plenum Press, New York

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Sung, C.Y., Afzali-Kushaa, A., Norris, T.B., Zhang, X., Haddad, G.I. (1996). Time-Resolved Femtosecond Intersubband Relaxations and Population Inversion in Stepped Quantum Wells. In: Hess, K., Leburton, JP., Ravaioli, U. (eds) Hot Carriers in Semiconductors. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0401-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0401-2_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8035-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0401-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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