Plasmonic effects in excitonic population transfer in a driven semiconductor-metal nanoparticle hybrid system

Abstract

We have investigated the coherent transfer of excitonic populations in a semiconductor quantum dot (SQD) modulated by the surface plasmon of a metallic nanoparticle (MNP). The SQD is considered as a three-level V-type atomic system. We applied a transform-limited laser pulse field resonant with the upper atomic levels of the SQD. When the SQD is close enough to the MNP, the otherwise equally populated atomic levels can be selectively excited. Selectivity population can be achieved by two physical mechanisms: an enhancement of the Rabi frequencies that drive the optical transitions, which depends on the polarization arrangement, and a frequency shift of the optical transitions that leads to a dynamical detuning. © 2012 American Physical Society.