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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

A Photonic System for Generating Unconditional Polarization-Entangled Photons Based on Multiple Quantum Interference
Published on: September 5, 2019
Directional Photocurrent Generated by Quantum Interference Control
Yiming Gong1, Kai Wang1,2, Steven T Cundiff1,3
1University of Michigan, Department of Physics, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA.
Abstract:
Although the absorption of light in a bulk homogeneous semiconductor produces photocarriers with nonzero momenta, it generally does not produce a current in the absence of an applied electric field because equal amounts of carriers with opposite momenta are injected. The interference of absorption processes, for example, between one-photon and two-photon absorption can produce a current because constructive interference for carriers with one momentum can correspond to destructive interference for carriers with the opposite momentum. We show that for the interference between two-photon and three-photon absorption, the current has a narrower angular spread, i.e., a "beam" of electrons in a specified direction is produced in the semiconductor.
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