OPTICAL AND STRUCTURAL CONTROL OF QUANTUM INTERFERENCE IN SEMICONDUCTORS

Electromagnetic and one structural coherent control schemes for semiconductors are discussed. These elementary schemes manipulate electronic inter(sub)band transitions and allow the coherent control of a variety of physical phenomena and processes, such as photo–absorption and emission, phonon emission, excitonic (many–body) effects, and THz emission. Here, we specifically address the use of sub-picosecond two–color pulses to control photo–absorption in bulk semiconductors and semiconductor quantum wells, as well as the initiation of coherent charge oscillations in double wells. It is shown that the phase sensitivity in absorption arises from the presence of the electron–electron interaction. It can be maintained as long as the pump pulse duration does not significantly exceed the inverse beating frequency associated with the two–color pump pulse.