Coherent control of optical gain from electronic intersubband transitions in semiconductors

We study electronic transitions between a subband and a lower subband doublet which is driven by a coherent microwave (MW) field in a semiconductor double well structure. Within a microscopic three-band model, we show that variation of the MW phase allows manipulation of the optical gain provided the probe pulse duration is shorter than the period of the MW-field-generated interband polarization in the doubler. Moreover, we find that optical gain without inversion can be achieved in spite of subpicosecond dissipative mechanisms provided by electron-phonon coupling and electron tunneling into and out of the double well. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.