Coherent control of cyclotron emission from a semiconductor using sub-picosecond electric field transients

Abstract
We have demonstrated the excitation and control of coherent cyclotron emission from a semiconductor using a THz beam containing pairs of sub-picosecond electric field pulses closely spaced in time. The source of THz radiation in these experiments is a biased coplanar stripline fabricated on semi-insulating GaAs and edge illuminated with pairs of temporally and spatially separated 70 fs pulses of near infrared light. A GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas was used in the experiments because of its long intraband phase relaxation time. Changes in the amplitude and phase of the cyclotron emission are observed when varying the interpulse delay and are well described within the theoretical framework of a two level system.