Numerical evaluation of optical pump-probe experiments

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Abstract
A new computer-based evaluation method is described which allows one to resolve rapid decay rates and to separate different decay mechanisms contributing to data from optical pump-probe experiments. This computer-fitting method is applied to the exemplary case of calculating the carrier lifetimes and quantifying different recombination processes in GaInAsP compounds observed experimentally by absorption bleaching. The carrier density is calculated by solving numerically the continuity equation in the general case of temporal, radial, and sample depth dependent generation and recombinations terms. Bleaching introduced by the pump beam is determined by using the appropriate theoretical relations and is then convolved in time and space with the probe beam to yield average bleaching values for comparison with the experimental ones. This evaluation method should also be applicable to many other pump-probe experiments.