Ultrafast carrier dynamics in semiconductor nanostructures: interplay between coherence and relaxation

✍ Scribed by Fausto Rossi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 182 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-6036
• DOI: 10.1006/spmi.1999.0766

✦ Synopsis

The strong coupling between coherent and incoherent ultrafast phenomena in the electrooptical response of semiconductor nanostructures is discussed theoretically within a density matrix formalism. In particular, the problem of scattering-induced damping of Bloch oscillations in superlattices is reviewed. Moreover, a generalization to 'open systems' of the conventional semiconductor Bloch equations is discussed. The presence of spatial boundary conditions manifests itself through self-energy corrections and additional source terms in the kinetic equations. As an example, some simulated experiments of quantum transport phenomena through double-barrier structures are reviewed.