All-optical Polarization Phase Modulation in Coupled Quantum Dots

Abstract

We have considered optical nonlinearities of coupled quantum dots theoretically, where an exciton dipole-dipole interaction is mediated between the adjacent large and small quantum dots. For increasing a pump pulse area in resonance with the large quantum dot exciton the induced nonlinear refractive index of the small quantum dot exciton has been obtained. As the exciton dipole-dipole interaction depends on the relative orientation of two exciton dipoles, the optical nonlinearities for the directions parallel and perpendicular to the coupling axis of the two quantum dots are compared. The directional imbalance of optical nonlinearities in coupled quantum dots can be utilized for a polarization phase modulator by controlling a pump pulse area and propagation length.