Abstract
Storing light in the lateral potential of an intense piezoactive surface acoustic wave propagating on a semiconductor quantum well is demonstrated. We show that the lateral piezoelectric fields of the wave are strong enough to field-ionize and thus dissociate optically generated excitons and to efficiently capture the resulting free electrons and holes. As the wave propagates at the speed of sound across the semiconductor sample, the trapped carriers can be transferred to a location on the sample being different from the one of the optical excitation. Deliberate screening of the lateral electric fields leads to an induced recombination after very long storage times. We explain the physical mechanisms responsible for this remarkable effect and investigate the ionization, trapping, transport, and recombination in detail.
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