Modulational instability and solitons in excitonic semiconductor waveguides

Malzer S, Smyrnov O, Biancalana F (2011)


Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2011

Journal

Original Authors: Smyrnov O.A., Biancalana F., Malzer S.

Publisher: American Physical Society

Book Volume: 83

Article Number: 205207

Journal Issue: 20

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.83.205207

Abstract

Nonlinear light propagation in a single-mode micron-size waveguide made of semiconducting excitonic material has been theoretically studied in terms of exciton polaritons by using an analysis based on macroscopic fields. When a light pulse is spectrally centered in the vicinity of the ground-state Wannier exciton resonance, it interacts with the medium nonlinearly. This optical cubic nonlinearity is caused by the repulsive exciton-exciton interactions in the semiconductor, and at resonance it is orders of magnitude larger than the Kerr nonlinearity (e.g., in silica). We demonstrate that a very strong and unconventional modulational instability takes place, which has not been previously reported. After reducing the problem to a single nonlinear Schrödinger-like equation, we also explore the formation of solitary waves both inside and outside the polaritonic gap and find evidence of spectral broadening. A realistic physical model of the excitonic waveguide structure is proposed. © 2011 American Physical Society.

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APA:

Malzer, S., Smyrnov, O., & Biancalana, F. (2011). Modulational instability and solitons in excitonic semiconductor waveguides. Physical Review B, 83(20). https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.205207

MLA:

Malzer, Stefan, Oleksii Smyrnov, and Fabio Biancalana. "Modulational instability and solitons in excitonic semiconductor waveguides." Physical Review B 83.20 (2011).

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