Abstract

Transient degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) has shown to be a powerful tool to study dephasing processes of excitons in 2-D semiconductor quantum-well (QW) structures. In particular, such studies provide detailed information on the interaction of the 2-D exciton with other quasi-particles, such as phonons, free electrons, and holes or excitons, as well as on the modification of the dephasing rates associated with these interaction processes.¹ In contrast, very little is known to date about the dephasing properties and mechanisms of excitons in 1-D quantum-wire (QWR) samples. Here, we present time-integrated (TI) and time-resolved (TR) DFWM experiments on a GaAs QWR, which are compared to data taken from a 2-D reference sample, in order to explore the variations of dephasing phenomena as well as their dependence on excitation density, polarization, wavelength, and lattice temperature for the transition from a 2-D to a 1-D structure.

© 1994 Optical Society of America