Superradiant generation of femtosecond pulses in quantum-well heterostructures
Academic Article
Overview
Additional Document Info
View All
Overview
abstract
We propose a new type of accessible source of ultra-short pulses based on the phenomenon of collective coherent recombination (superradiance) of electrons and holes in semiconductor heterostructures. We find and analyse a novel regime of ultra-fast operation of quantum-well semiconductor lasers in which a quasiperiodic sequence of femtosecond superradiant pulses is emitted under continuous pumping. According to our calculations for AlGaAs-GaAs heterostructures, the coherent optical pulses of duration 30 fs and peak intensity 100 MW cm-2can be generated in a low-Q cavity of length 30-100 m.