Coherent Propagation of Polaritons in Semiconductor Heterostructures: Nonlinear Pulse Transmission in Theory and Experiment

TL;DR

This paper investigates how coherent optical nonlinearities affect polariton propagation in semiconductor heterostructures through combined theoretical modeling and experimental validation, focusing on nonlinear pulse transmission and spectral changes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel microscopic approach to analyze boundary effects and nonlinearities in polariton propagation in finite semiconductor samples.

Findings

Spectral changes depend on light polarization.

Nonlinear pulse transmission is significantly affected by excitonic and biexcitonic effects.

Theoretical predictions align with experimental observations.

Abstract

The influence of coherent optical nonlinearities on polariton propagation effects is studied within a theory-experiment comparison. A novel approach that combines a microscopic treatment of the boundary problem in a sample of finite thickness with excitonic and biexcitonic nonlinearities is introduced. Light-polarization dependent spectral changes are analyzed for single-pulse transmission and pump-probe excitation.