Theoretical analysis of four-wave mixing on semiconductor quantum dot ensembles with quantum light

Abstract

The nonlinear optical response of an ensemble of semiconductor quantum dots is analyzed by wave-mixing processes, where we focus on four-wave mixing with two incident pulses. Wave-mixing experiments are often described with semiclassical models, where the light is modeled classically and the material quantum mechanically. Here, however, we use a fully quantized model, where the light is given by a quantum state of light. Quantum light involves more degrees of freedom than classical light as e.g., its photon statistics and quantum correlations, which is a promising resource for quantum devices, such as quantum memories. The light-matter interaction is treated with a Jaynes-Cummings type model and the quantum field is given by a single mode since the quantum dots are embedded in a microcavity. We present numerical simulations of the four-wave-mixing response of a homogeneous system for pulse sequences and find a significant dependence of the result on the photon statistics of the incident pulses. The model constitutes a problem with a large state space which arises from the frequency distribution of the transition energies of the inhomogeneously broadened quantum dot ensemble that is coupled with a quantum light mode. Here we approximate the dynamics by summing over individual quantum dot-microcavity systems. Photon echoes arising from the excitation with different quantum states of light are simulated and compared.