Abstract

The optical Stark effect on excitons in semiconductors was recently demonstrated¹ in Cu₂O and quantum-well structures.^2,3 Mysyrowicz et al.² and Von Lehmen et al.³ were able to measure a blue shift of the first two excitons in GaAs quantum wells, which is induced by an intense beam tuned to as much as 40 meV below the lowest exciton transition. Due to their high time resolution they could distinguish this light-induced change of the exciton spectrum from merely population-induced effects, which had been seen before. In these experiments the interaction of only two levels has to be considered. There is a repulsion by the dynamic Stark effect between the ground state and the exciton level under consideration (HH or LH exciton). The same transition is then probed by a weak beam to monitor this repulsion.

© 1987 Optical Society of America