Two-photon photocurrent spectroscopy of quantum well intersubband relaxation and dephasing

We have studied electron intersubband relaxation and dephasing in n-type InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells by femtosecond two-photon photocurrent spectroscopy using mid-infrared pulses of 165 fs duration. The approach enables us to determine systematically the dependence of these time constants on structural parameters, including carrier density and modulation/well doping, and to discriminate between different scattering processes [1]. By varying the excitation energy, we also tuned the two-photon transition from resonant, yielding optimum resonant enhancement with a real intermediate state, to nearly-resonant, with a virtual but resonantly enhanced intermediate state [2]. For autocorrelation purposes, the latter configuration improves time resolution whilst partially retaining a resonant enhancement of the two-photon transition strength.
[1] H. Schneider, T. Maier, M. Walther, H. C. Liu, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 191116 (2007).
[2] H. Schneider, T. Maier, H. C. Liu, M. Walther, Opt. Express 16, 1523 (2008).