Internal motions of a quasiparticle governing its ultrafast nonlinear response

• Published in: Nature Vol. 450; no. 7173; pp. 1210 - 1213
• Main Authors: Gaal, P., Kuehn, W., Reimann, K., Woerner, M., Elsaesser, T., Hey, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 20.12.2007; Nature Publishing; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Absorption; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Crystal lattices; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Distortion; DNA; Drift; Electric fields; Electron states; Electrons; Emissions; Exact sciences and technology; Gallium arsenide; Humanities and Social Sciences; letter; multidisciplinary; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Nonlinearity; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Particle physics; Physics; Polarons; Polarons and electron-phonon interactions; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Time-resolved optical spectroscopies and other ultrafast optical measurements in condensed matter; Time dependence; Froehlich interactions; Pump probe spectrometry; Gallium arsenides; THz range; Quantum coherence; Phonon mode; Non linear effect; Ultrafast optics; Drift velocity; Polarons; III-V semiconductors

This paper reports a study of polarons in a GaAs crystal subject to a strong electric field. In addition to the overall drift motion of the polaron, an oscillatory internal motion is observed in which the electron is impulsively moved away from the centre of the surrounding lattice distortion. Such...