Generation of injection currents in (110)-oriented GaAs quantum wells: experimental observation and development of a microscopic theory

Abstract

We have experimentally investigated injection currents generated by all-optical excitation of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells excited with 130 fs optical pulses. The currents have been detected via free-space THz experiments at room temperature. Our experiments prove that Coulomb effects strongly influence injection currents. This becomes most prominently visible when exciting light-hole exciton transitions. At this photon energy we observe a pronounced phase shift of the current transients which is due to oppositely oriented heavy-hole and light-hole type contributions. We are currently developing a microscopic theory based on a 14×14 k.p model in combination with the semiconductor Bloch equations to describe the observed features quantitatively. The combined theoretical and experimental approach will allow us to analyze the influence of the bandstructure and interaction effects on the injection current amplitude and current dynamics.