Self-pulse-shaping coherent control of excitons in a semiconductor microcavity

The coherent control of the exciton population in quantum wells (QW's) is considered. For cavity-free QW's a 0 pi pulse leaves the QW empty of excitons subsequent to its passage. For the microcavity, in addition to certain 0 pi pulses, specially tailored pulses with nonzero area are also optimal. The coherent depopulation is a strong-coupling effect and is due to the a phase shift in the self-consistent Maxwell field (i.e., including the local-field effect associated with the exciton resonance) in the cavity that occurs in the course of a vacuum-field Rabi flop.