DYNAMICS OF 4-WAVE-MIXING ON EXCITONS IN A QUANTUM OPTICAL MICROCAVITY

A theory of degenerate four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical cav ity with quantum wells is constructed. The nonlinear response of a mic rocavity can be four to five orders of magnitude stronger than that of an isolated quantum well. For P(2)E- and P-3-type nonlinearities the damped diffracted signal oscillates with a period determined by the Ra bi splitting. For a biexcitonic mechanism of nonlinearity, the signal contains damped overtones of the Rabi splitting and the biexciton bind ing energy. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.