Spatially structured transparency and transfer of optical vortices via four-wave mixing in a quantum-dot nanostructure

Abstract

We propose a scheme to generate structured light using a medium consisting of semiconductor quantum dots via four-wave mixing (FWM). We consider a four-level quantum-dot structure where two strong electromagnetic fields couple upper-level biexciton transitions, whereas a weak field is applied to one of the ground-level exciton transitions. A weak signal field is generated, corresponding to a second ground-level exciton transition; thus the overall configuration transforms into a closed-loop diamond-type shape. To realize a spatially dependent modulating quantum-dot medium, we consider strong coupling fields as structured lights and investigate different regions of spatially structured electromagnetically induced transparency via absorption of the generated signal field. The azimuthal phase-dependent modulation of the absorption profile of the generated signal field is the key factor behind the creation of structured light. In addition, we also demonstrate transfer of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the control beam to the generated beam through the FWM process and study the effect of phase mismatch on efficiency of the OAM transfer.