Após a excitação de uma amostra semicondutora por um pulso ultracurto, os fotoporadores interagem com a rede excitando modos longitudinais ópticos. Essa interação provoca variações no índice de refração do material, produzindo modulações na resposta óptica do meio (efeito eletro-óptico). Por outro lado, esta dinâmica origina polarizações dependentes do tempo o que gera emissão de radiação terahertz. Experimentos recentes (pump-probe) observaram modulações do campo através de medidas da refletividade resolvidas no tempo. A refletividade e o campo estão relacionados segundo o efeito eletro-óptico. Também se resolve temporalmente o campo irradiado pela amostra, através de antenas que operam na faixa de terahertz. Tanto as medidas eletro-ópticas quanto de emissão terahertz fornecem informações sobre a interação dinâmica do plasma com a rede após a excitação óptica. Nesse trabalho simulamos a interação dinâmica de plasma e fônons em n-GaAs e Telúrio (\"bulk\") após estes serem excitados por um pulso ultracurto. Utilizamos equações hidrodinâmicas para descrever transporte de cargas e uma equação fenomenológica de oscilador harmônico forçado, para descrever oscilações longitudinais ópticas da rede. Complementando nossa descrição temos a equação de Poisson, com a qual calculamos o campo gerado pelo plasma e pela polarização da rede semicondutora. Essas equações constituem um sistema de seis equações diferencias (quatro parciais) acopladas. Para resolvê-las utilizamos o método das diferenças finitas. Do cálculo numérico obtemos a evolução temporal do campo elétrico no interior do material. Com esse campo determinamos as freqüências de oscilação do sistema e calculamos o campo irradiado. Nossos resultados apresentam acordo qualitativo com os experimentos / Above-band-gap optical excitation of semiconductors generates highly non-equilibrium photocarriers which interact with phonons thus exciting vibrational modes in the system. This interaction induces refractive-index changes via the electro-optic effect. Moreover it gives rise to electromagnetic radiation at characteristic frequencies (terahertz). Both effects have been measured by time-resolved ultra fast spectroscopy. Recent pump-probe experiments have found strong modulations of the internal electric field through electro-optic measurements. The emitted electromagnetic radiation has also been detected by a terahertz dipole antenna. Both electro-optic and terahertz emission measurements provide information about the coupled dynamics of photocarriers and phonons. In this work we simulate the dynamics of plasmon-phonon coupled modes in n-GaAs and Tellurium (bulk) following ultrafast laser excitation. The time evolution of the photocarrier densities and currents is described semi classically in terms of the moments of the Boltzmann equation. Phonon effects are accounted for by considering a phenomenological driven-harmonic-oscillator equation, which is coupled to the electron-hole plasma via Poisson\'s equation. These equations constitute a coupled set of differential equations. We use finite differencing to solve these equations. From the numerical results for the evolution of internal fields we can calculate both the characteristic frequencies of system and its terahertz radiation spectrum. Our results are consistent with recent experimental data

Após a excitação de uma amostra semicondutora por um pulso ultracurto, os fotoporadores interagem com a rede excitando modos longitudinais ópticos. Essa interação provoca variações no índice de refração do material, produzindo modulações na resposta óptica do meio (efeito eletro-óptico). Por outro lado, esta dinâmica origina polarizações dependentes do tempo o que gera emissão de radiação terahertz. Experimentos recentes (pump-probe) observaram modulações do campo através de medidas da refletividade resolvidas no tempo. A refletividade e o campo estão relacionados segundo o efeito eletro-óptico. Também se resolve temporalmente o campo irradiado pela amostra, através de antenas que operam na faixa de terahertz. Tanto as medidas eletro-ópticas quanto de emissão terahertz fornecem informações sobre a interação dinâmica do plasma com a rede após a excitação óptica. Nesse trabalho simulamos a interação dinâmica de plasma e fônons em n-GaAs e Telúrio (\"bulk\") após estes serem excitados por um pulso ultracurto. Utilizamos equações hidrodinâmicas para descrever transporte de cargas e uma equação fenomenológica de oscilador harmônico forçado, para descrever oscilações longitudinais ópticas da rede. Complementando nossa descrição temos a equação de Poisson, com a qual calculamos o campo gerado pelo plasma e pela polarização da rede semicondutora. Essas equações constituem um sistema de seis equações diferencias (quatro parciais) acopladas. Para resolvê-las utilizamos o método das diferenças finitas. Do cálculo numérico obtemos a evolução temporal do campo elétrico no interior do material. Com esse campo determinamos as freqüências de oscilação do sistema e calculamos o campo irradiado. Nossos resultados apresentam acordo qualitativo com os experimentos / Above-band-gap optical excitation of semiconductors generates highly non-equilibrium photocarriers which interact with phonons thus exciting vibrational modes in the system. This interaction induces refractive-index changes via the electro-optic effect. Moreover it gives rise to electromagnetic radiation at characteristic frequencies (terahertz). Both effects have been measured by time-resolved ultra fast spectroscopy. Recent pump-probe experiments have found strong modulations of the internal electric field through electro-optic measurements. The emitted electromagnetic radiation has also been detected by a terahertz dipole antenna. Both electro-optic and terahertz emission measurements provide information about the coupled dynamics of photocarriers and phonons. In this work we simulate the dynamics of plasmon-phonon coupled modes in n-GaAs and Tellurium (bulk) following ultrafast laser excitation. The time evolution of the photocarrier densities and currents is described semi classically in terms of the moments of the Boltzmann equation. Phonon effects are accounted for by considering a phenomenological driven-harmonic-oscillator equation, which is coupled to the electron-hole plasma via Poisson\'s equation. These equations constitute a coupled set of differential equations. We use finite differencing to solve these equations. From the numerical results for the evolution of internal fields we can calculate both the characteristic frequencies of system and its terahertz radiation spectrum. Our results are consistent with recent experimental data

In semiconductor superlattices, the carrier band structure can be tailored by the proper choice of their geometry. Therefore, superlattices are a model system for the study of coherent high-field transport phenomena in a periodic potential with applied static electric field. This thesis is structured in two parts. I. Zener Tunneling in Semiconductor Superlattices. In this work,semiconductor superlattices with shallow barriers and narrow band gaps were employed to investigate the Zener breakdown. In these samples, tunneling in the electron Wannier-Stark ladder spectrum is addressed as coupling of the electron states of a single bound below-barrier band to the states of the above-barrier spectrum. The field-dependent evolution of the Wannier-Stark ladder states was traced in the optical interband spectrum. Superlattices with different geometries were employed, to clarify the influence of the particular miniband structure on the Zener tunneling behavior. It was shown that in the presence of Zener tunneling, the Wannier-Stark ladder picture becomes invalid. Tunneling is demonstrated to lead to a field-induced delocalization of Wannier-Stark ladder states. In addition, the coherent polarization lifetime was analyzed as a measure of the tunneling probability. II. Terahertz Emission of Exciton Wave Packets in Semiconductor Superlattices. By means of Terahertz spectroscopy, the coherent intraband dynamics of exciton wave packets in biased superlattices after the selective ultrafast excitation of the Wannier-Stark ladder spectrum was investigated. The dynamics of Bloch oscillations was investigated under broadband excitation. It is demonstrated, that the Bloch oscillation amplitude can be controlled by altering the pump pulse energy. The xperimental results can only be explained in a full exciton picture, incorporating bound 1s exciton states and the associated exciton in-plane continuum. The intraband dipole of single Wannier-Stark ladder excitons was measured by detecting the Terhartz response after excitation of the Wannier-Stark ladder with a spectrally narrow rectangular pump pulse. In addition, experiments revealed a previously unknown mechanism for the generation of Bloch oscillating exciton wave packets. This was demonstrated for an incident pump spectrum which was too narrow to excite a superposition of Wannier-Stark ladder states. The effect is based on the sudden, non-adiabatic, change in the net dc internal field due to creation of electron-hole pairs with permanent dipole moments. The non-adiabatic generation of Bloch oscillations is a highly nonlinear effect mediated by strong exciton-exciton interactions.The central role that play exciton-exciton interactions in the intraband dynamics became especially evident when the Wannier-Stark ladder was selectively excited by two spectrally narrow laser lines. The experiments demonstrated a resonant enhancement of the intraband transition matrix element when 1s exciton wavepackets are excited. / In Halbleiter-Übergittern kann die Bandstruktur von Ladungsträgern durch die geeignete Wahl der Geometrie eingestellt werden. Deshalb sind Halbleiter-Übergitter ein Modellsystem für Untersuchungen des kohärenten Ladungstransportes im periodischen Potential bei hohen, statischen, elektrischen Feldern. Diese Doktorarbeit ist in zwei Teile untergliedert. I. Zener-Tunneln in Halbleiter-Übergittern In dieser Arbeit werden Halbleiter-Übergitter mit flachen Barrieren und schmalen Bandlücken eingesetzt, um den Effekt des Zener-Durchbruchs zu untersuchen. In diesen Strukturen wird das Zener-Tunneln im Elektronen-Spektrum der Wannier-Stark-Leiter adressiert. Dabei handelt es sich um die Kopplung von Elektronen-Zuständen eines einzelnen Minibandes unterhalb der Potentialbarriere des Quantentopfes mit Zuständen oberhalb der Barriere. Die Feldabhängigkeit der Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zustände wurde im optischen Interband-Spektrum detektiert. Übergitter mit unterschiedlichen Geometrien wurden untersucht, um den Einfluss der spezifischen Miniband-Struktur auf die Charakteristiken des Zener-Tunnelns aufzuklären. Es wurde gezeigt, dass im Regime des Zener-Tunnelns das Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Bild nicht mehr gültig ist. Dabei wird demonstriert, dass Tunneln zu einer feldabhängigen Delokalisierung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zustände führt. Außerdem wird die Kohärenz-Lebensdauer der Polarisation analysiert. Sie bildet die Tunneln-Wahrscheinlichkeit ab. II. Terahertz Emission von Exzitonen-Wellen-Paketen in Halbleiter-Übergittern Mit Hilfe von Terahertz-Spektroskopie wurde die kohärente Intraband-Dynamik von Exzitonen-Wellen-Paketen in vorgespannten Halbleiter-Übergittern nach der selektiven, ultrakurzen Anregung des Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Spektrums untersucht. Die Dynamik von Bloch-Oszillatonen wurde durch spektral breitbandiger Anregung detektiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Amplitude von Bloch-Oszillationen durch die Änderung der Energie des Anrege-Pulses beeinflusst werden kann. Die experimentellen Resultate können nur in einem ganzheitlichen Exzitonenbild erklärt werden. Es umfaßt die gebundenen 1s-Exziton-Zustände und das zugehörige Exzitonen-Kontinuum in der Quantentopfschicht. Der Intraband-Dipol einzelner Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Exzitonen wurde durch die Detektion der Terahertz-Antwort auf die Anregung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter mit einem spektral schmalen Anrege-Puls vermessen. Außerdem wird in den Experimenten ein zuvor ungekannten Mechanismus der Anregung von bloch-oszillierenden Wellen-Paketen beobachtet. Dieser Effekt wird für ein eingestrahltes Anrege-Spektrum, welches spektral zu schmal für die Anregung einer Überlagerung von Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zuständen ist, demonstriert. Der Mechanismus basiert auf die unmittelbare, nicht-adiabatische Änderung des effektiven, internen, statischen Feldes auf Grund der Anregung von Elektron-Loch-Paaren mit permanentem Dipolmoment. Die nicht-adiabatische Anregung von Bloch-Oszillationen ist ein hoch nicht-linearer Effekt, der durch starke Exziton-Exziton Wechselwirkung vermittelt wird. Die zentrale Rolle, die die Exziton-Exziton Wechselwirkung in der Intraband-Dynamik spielt, wurde besonders deutlich bei der selektiven Anregung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter durch zwei spekral schmale Laserlinien. Die Experimente demonstrieren eine resonante Überhöhung des Intraband-Übergangs-Matrix-Elements, wenn 1s-Exziton-Wellen-Pakete angeregt werden.

In semiconductor superlattices, the carrier band structure can be tailored by the proper choice of their geometry. Therefore, superlattices are a model system for the study of coherent high-field transport phenomena in a periodic potential with applied static electric field. This thesis is structured in two parts. I. Zener Tunneling in Semiconductor Superlattices. In this work,semiconductor superlattices with shallow barriers and narrow band gaps were employed to investigate the Zener breakdown. In these samples, tunneling in the electron Wannier-Stark ladder spectrum is addressed as coupling of the electron states of a single bound below-barrier band to the states of the above-barrier spectrum. The field-dependent evolution of the Wannier-Stark ladder states was traced in the optical interband spectrum. Superlattices with different geometries were employed, to clarify the influence of the particular miniband structure on the Zener tunneling behavior. It was shown that in the presence of Zener tunneling, the Wannier-Stark ladder picture becomes invalid. Tunneling is demonstrated to lead to a field-induced delocalization of Wannier-Stark ladder states. In addition, the coherent polarization lifetime was analyzed as a measure of the tunneling probability. II. Terahertz Emission of Exciton Wave Packets in Semiconductor Superlattices. By means of Terahertz spectroscopy, the coherent intraband dynamics of exciton wave packets in biased superlattices after the selective ultrafast excitation of the Wannier-Stark ladder spectrum was investigated. The dynamics of Bloch oscillations was investigated under broadband excitation. It is demonstrated, that the Bloch oscillation amplitude can be controlled by altering the pump pulse energy. The xperimental results can only be explained in a full exciton picture, incorporating bound 1s exciton states and the associated exciton in-plane continuum. The intraband dipole of single Wannier-Stark ladder excitons was measured by detecting the Terhartz response after excitation of the Wannier-Stark ladder with a spectrally narrow rectangular pump pulse. In addition, experiments revealed a previously unknown mechanism for the generation of Bloch oscillating exciton wave packets. This was demonstrated for an incident pump spectrum which was too narrow to excite a superposition of Wannier-Stark ladder states. The effect is based on the sudden, non-adiabatic, change in the net dc internal field due to creation of electron-hole pairs with permanent dipole moments. The non-adiabatic generation of Bloch oscillations is a highly nonlinear effect mediated by strong exciton-exciton interactions.The central role that play exciton-exciton interactions in the intraband dynamics became especially evident when the Wannier-Stark ladder was selectively excited by two spectrally narrow laser lines. The experiments demonstrated a resonant enhancement of the intraband transition matrix element when 1s exciton wavepackets are excited. / In Halbleiter-Übergittern kann die Bandstruktur von Ladungsträgern durch die geeignete Wahl der Geometrie eingestellt werden. Deshalb sind Halbleiter-Übergitter ein Modellsystem für Untersuchungen des kohärenten Ladungstransportes im periodischen Potential bei hohen, statischen, elektrischen Feldern. Diese Doktorarbeit ist in zwei Teile untergliedert. I. Zener-Tunneln in Halbleiter-Übergittern In dieser Arbeit werden Halbleiter-Übergitter mit flachen Barrieren und schmalen Bandlücken eingesetzt, um den Effekt des Zener-Durchbruchs zu untersuchen. In diesen Strukturen wird das Zener-Tunneln im Elektronen-Spektrum der Wannier-Stark-Leiter adressiert. Dabei handelt es sich um die Kopplung von Elektronen-Zuständen eines einzelnen Minibandes unterhalb der Potentialbarriere des Quantentopfes mit Zuständen oberhalb der Barriere. Die Feldabhängigkeit der Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zustände wurde im optischen Interband-Spektrum detektiert. Übergitter mit unterschiedlichen Geometrien wurden untersucht, um den Einfluss der spezifischen Miniband-Struktur auf die Charakteristiken des Zener-Tunnelns aufzuklären. Es wurde gezeigt, dass im Regime des Zener-Tunnelns das Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Bild nicht mehr gültig ist. Dabei wird demonstriert, dass Tunneln zu einer feldabhängigen Delokalisierung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zustände führt. Außerdem wird die Kohärenz-Lebensdauer der Polarisation analysiert. Sie bildet die Tunneln-Wahrscheinlichkeit ab. II. Terahertz Emission von Exzitonen-Wellen-Paketen in Halbleiter-Übergittern Mit Hilfe von Terahertz-Spektroskopie wurde die kohärente Intraband-Dynamik von Exzitonen-Wellen-Paketen in vorgespannten Halbleiter-Übergittern nach der selektiven, ultrakurzen Anregung des Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Spektrums untersucht. Die Dynamik von Bloch-Oszillatonen wurde durch spektral breitbandiger Anregung detektiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Amplitude von Bloch-Oszillationen durch die Änderung der Energie des Anrege-Pulses beeinflusst werden kann. Die experimentellen Resultate können nur in einem ganzheitlichen Exzitonenbild erklärt werden. Es umfaßt die gebundenen 1s-Exziton-Zustände und das zugehörige Exzitonen-Kontinuum in der Quantentopfschicht. Der Intraband-Dipol einzelner Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Exzitonen wurde durch die Detektion der Terahertz-Antwort auf die Anregung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter mit einem spektral schmalen Anrege-Puls vermessen. Außerdem wird in den Experimenten ein zuvor ungekannten Mechanismus der Anregung von bloch-oszillierenden Wellen-Paketen beobachtet. Dieser Effekt wird für ein eingestrahltes Anrege-Spektrum, welches spektral zu schmal für die Anregung einer Überlagerung von Wannier-Stark-Leiter-Zuständen ist, demonstriert. Der Mechanismus basiert auf die unmittelbare, nicht-adiabatische Änderung des effektiven, internen, statischen Feldes auf Grund der Anregung von Elektron-Loch-Paaren mit permanentem Dipolmoment. Die nicht-adiabatische Anregung von Bloch-Oszillationen ist ein hoch nicht-linearer Effekt, der durch starke Exziton-Exziton Wechselwirkung vermittelt wird. Die zentrale Rolle, die die Exziton-Exziton Wechselwirkung in der Intraband-Dynamik spielt, wurde besonders deutlich bei der selektiven Anregung der Wannier-Stark-Leiter durch zwei spekral schmale Laserlinien. Die Experimente demonstrieren eine resonante Überhöhung des Intraband-Übergangs-Matrix-Elements, wenn 1s-Exziton-Wellen-Pakete angeregt werden.