Ultrafast Electroabsorption at the Transition between Classical and Quantum Response

A. H. Chin; J. M. Bakker; J. Kono

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.3293

Ultrafast Electroabsorption at the Transition between Classical and Quantum Response

A. H. Chin, J. M. Bakker, and J. Kono

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3293 – Published 9 October 2000

Abstract

We report the first observation of unusually large induced absorption in semiconductors strongly driven by intense ultrashort midinfrared laser fields. This ultrafast electroabsorption has the largest extent below the band edge $(\sim 1 eV)$ ever observed, to our knowledge, which we interpret as being a manifestation of the dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect. The electroabsorption is observable when the ponderomotive potential is comparable to the photon energy of the applied field, i.e., when the applied field is at the transition between the classical and quantum regimes.

Received 10 March 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.3293

Authors & Affiliations

A. H. Chin, J. M. Bakker^*, and J. Kono^†

W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

^*Present address: FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen, Edisonbaan 14, NL-3439 MN Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
^†Present address: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005.