Abstract

The dynamics of excited carriers in semiconductor quantum well structures has been extensively studied by the methods of ultrafast laser spectroscopy for more than a decade [1-5]. However, a whole series of experiments are now possible which promise new insight into the processes of carrier relaxation. This is due to the recent development of reliable, high power, tabletop, femtosecond laser sources which enable the production of near- and mid-infrared femtosecond pulses through nonlinear optical frequency conversion. In this paper we report the results of recent experiments on the relaxation dynamics of hot electrons in an InGaAs/InAlAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structure through degenerate and non-degenerate pump-probe spectroscopy.

© 1997 Optical Society of America