Controllable GHz-THz nonlinear optics in semiconductor superlattices

Nonlinearities in semiconductors are well understood in the near infrared and visible ranges. In contrast, the GHz-THz range is wide open, full of potential and this proposal will deliver a predictive theoretical approach to controllable GHz-THz nonlinearities in semiconductor superlattices. Superlattices for large nonlinearities will be designed and fabricated by Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Spectroscopy and voltage-current with and without irradiation measurements experiments will be directly compared and contrasted with Nonequilibrium Green’s Functions calculations, coupled to exact solutions of the corresponding Boltzmann equation, leading to the new state of the art intersubband transport and optics simulator. This research is focused on fundamental understanding of the microscopic phenomena underlying nonlinear GHz-THz optical processes but will also provide guidelines for further development of frequency multipliers devices, currently under investigation by our collaborators for breath analysis, in line with National Priority Area PA 5-Healthy Population.