Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 49: Optical Properties

HL 49.13: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 12:45–13:00, H14

Trionic Optical Potentials for Charge Carriers in Semiconductors — •Martin Schuetz, Michael G. Moore, and Carlo Piermarocchi — Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

Optical trapping of neutral particles has led to remarkable advances in precision measurement, quantum information, and addressing fundamental longstanding questions in condensed matter physics. Despite recent advances in the optical and electronic control in semiconductor systems, a similar laser-induced technique to trap and manipulate charged carriers in semiconductor devices has not yet been investigated. In this talk, we will propose analogues optical trapping potentials for charge carriers embedded in a semiconductor quantum well by driving the trion resonance with intense, detuned laser light. Accordingly, the Stark energy is modified in proportion to the light intensity at the carrier location, which serves as a source of mechanical potential energy for the carrier. We show that this novel trion-mediated potential exhibits a non-local character, but can confine carriers at the lengthscale of optical wavelengths.The model is extended to the new paradigm of a spin-selective carrier lattice in a true Solid State environment which is potentially much simpler to engineer and control than similar lattices in AMO physics. Our results suggest the possibility of new single-carrier semiconductor devices with promising applications in quantum information processing, and exploring the physics of interacting electrons in the presence of a periodic potential readily controllable in space and time.