Linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in asymmetrical Gaussian potential quantum wells with applied electric field

Abstract

Linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes in asymmetrical Gaussian potential quantum wells with applied electric field are discussed by the effective mass approximation and the compact density matrix method. The dependence of linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes on the height of the quantum well V0, the range of confinement potential L, and the applied electric field F is studied by the energy eigenvalues and the energy eigenfunctions. Our calculated results show that linear and nonlinear optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes are affected by the three factors above mentioned. It is also found that the total optical absorption coefficients are greatly affected by the incident optical intensify.