Biomedical subjects

M S Sherwin

Publications and source records attributed to M S Sherwin.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Quantum coherence in an optical modulator.

Semiconductor quantum well electroabsorption modulators are widely used to modulate near-infrared (NIR) radiation at frequencies below 0.1 terahertz (THz). Here, the NIR absorption of undoped quantum wells was modulated by strong electric fields with frequencies between 1.5 and 3.9 THz. The THz field coupled two excited states (excitons) of the quantum wells, as manifested by a new THz frequency- and power-dependent NIR absorption line. Nonperturbative theory and experiment indicate that the THz field generated a coherent quantum superposition of an absorbing and a nonabsorbing exciton. This quantum coherence may yield new applications for quantum well modulators in optical communications.

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PubMed2001

Dissipation of intersubband plasmons in wide quantum wells.

This Letter reports detailed measurements of the dissipation times tau(d) of approximately 10 meV intersubband (ISB) plasmons, and of the (single-particle) transport lifetimes tau(mu), in a remotely doped 40 nm GaAs quantum well. Introduced here as the time for ISB plasmons to dissipate into other modes of the electron gas, tau(d) is deduced from the homogeneous ISB absorption linewidth, measured as a function of sheet concentration and perpendicular dc electric field. Modeling in this and the next Letter [C. A. Ullrich and G. Vignale, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 037402 (2001)] indicates that scattering from rough interfaces dominates tau(d), while scattering from ionized impurities dominates tau(mu).

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PubMed2001

Coherent manipulation of semiconductor quantum bits with terahertz radiation.

Quantum bits (qubits) are the fundamental building blocks of quantum information processors, such as quantum computers. A qubit comprises a pair of well characterized quantum states that can in principle be manipulated quickly compared to the time it takes them to decohere by coupling to their environment. Much remains to be understood about the manipulation and decoherence of semiconductor qubits. Here we show that hydrogen-atom-like motional states of electrons bound to donor impurities in currently available semiconductors can serve as model qubits. We use intense pulses of terahertz radiation to induce coherent, damped Rabi oscillations in the population of two low-lying states of donor impurities in GaAs. Our observations demonstrate that a quantum-confined extrinsic electron in a semiconductor can be coherently manipulated like an atomic electron, even while sharing space with approximately 10(5) atoms in its semiconductor host. We anticipate that this model system will be useful for measuring intrinsic decoherence processes, and for testing both simple and complex manipulations of semiconductor qubits.

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