Tunneling induced two-dimensional phase grating in a quantum well nanostructure via third and fifth orders of...

We study the nonlinear optical properties in an asymmetric double AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well nanostructure by using an external control field and resonant tunneling effects. It is found that the resonant tunneling can modulate the third-order and fifth-order of susceptibilities via detuning frequency of coupling light. In presence of the resonant tunneling and when the coupling light is in resonance with the corresponding transition, the real parts of third-order and fifth-order susceptibilities are enhanced which are accompanied by nonlinear absorption. However, in off-resonance of coupling light, real parts of third-order and fifth-order susceptibilities enhance while the nonlinear absorption vanishes. We investigate also the two-dimensional electromagnetically induced grating (2D-EIG) of the weak probe light by modulating the third-order and fifth-order susceptibilities. In resonance of coupling light, both amplitude and phase grating are formed in the medium due to enhancement of third-order and fifth-order probe absorption and dispersion. When the coupling light is out of resonance, most of probe energy is transferred from zero-order to higher-order directions due to resonant tunneling effect. The efficiency of phase grating for third-order of susceptibility is higher than phase grating for fifth-order susceptibility. Our proposed model may be useful for optical switching and optical sensors based on semiconductor nanostructures.