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Microscopic foundation of the phenomenological few-level approach to coherent semiconductor optics

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Zeitschrift für Physik B Condensed Matter

Abstract

It is shown how a phenomenological few-level description of coherent semiconductor optics is related to microscopic density-matrix theory. It turns out that the few-level dynamics is not obtained by simply projecting the microscopic dynamics onto a suitable chosen set of energy eigenstates. Therefore, a new hierarchy of microscopic densities is introduced with the property that their expansion in terms of energy eigenstates yields the level dynamics. The transformation rules between the few-level variables and the traditional density matrices are established. The problem of incorporating the coupling to continua into a few-level model is discussed. A refined few-level model approximating the influence of the continua by modified couplings between the levels is presented. The modified couplings turn out to be similar in structure to phenomenologically introduced refinements like local fields. The analysis makes clear that intuitively similar approximations have a different meaning when applied in the context of a few-level model or a truncated microscopic hierarchy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Theoretische Physik B, Rheinisch Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Sommerfeldstrasse, D-52056, Aachen, Germany

    K. Victor, V. M. Axt, G. Bartels & A. Stahl

  2. Fachbereich Physik und Wissenschaftliches Zentrum für Materialwissenschaften, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Renthof 5, D-35032, Marburg, Germany

    K. Bott & P. Thomas

Authors
  1. K. Victor
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  2. V. M. Axt
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  3. G. Bartels
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  4. A. Stahl
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  5. K. Bott
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  6. P. Thomas
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Victor, K., Axt, V.M., Bartels, G. et al. Microscopic foundation of the phenomenological few-level approach to coherent semiconductor optics. Z. Phys. B - Condensed Matter 99, 197–205 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02769933

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