Linear and nonlinear optical properties of a two-subband system in a symmetric semiconductor quantum well

We study the linear and nonlinear optical response of intersubband transitions in a semiconductor quantum well. We describe the coupling of the quantum well structure with the electromagnetic field by using the nonlinear density matrix equations, in the two-subband approximation. We provide proper approximate analytical solutions to these equations that are used for the closed-form determination of the optical susceptibilities X((1)), X((3),) and X((5).) We also explore the dependence of X((1)), X((3),) and X((5)) on the electron sheet density for a specific double GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3457855]