Analytical Analysis of Single-Photon Correlations Emitted by Disordered Semiconductor Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytical model to understand how single-photon correlations emitted by disordered semiconductor heterostructures can be used to reconstruct disorder potentials, providing insights into the influence of various parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified analytical model of independent two-level systems to study photon correlation measurements and their relation to disorder characteristics in semiconductor heterostructures.

Findings

Analytical expressions for photon correlations in disordered systems.

Systematic investigation of parameters like disorder scale and wavelength.

Relation between photon correlations and disorder potential characteristics.

Abstract

In a recent publication [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 227402 (2006), cond-mat/0611411], it has been demonstrated numerically that a long-range disorder potential in semiconductor quantum wells can be reconstructed reliably via single-photon interferometry of spontaneously emitted light. In the present paper, a simplified analytical model of independent two-level systems is presented in order to study the reconstruction procedure in more detail. With the help of this model, the measured photon correlations can be calculated analytically and the influence of parameters such as the disorder length scale, the wavelength of the used light, or the spotsize can be investigated systematically. Furthermore, the relation between the proposed angle-resolved single-photon correlations and the disorder potential can be understood and the measured signal is expected to be closely related to the characteristic strength and length scale of the disorder.