Four-wave mixing mediated by the capture of carriers in semiconductor quantum-well amplifiers

We demonstrate a technique to measure the intrinsic capture lifetime, using frequency-resolved four wave mixing (FWM). The work is based on a frequency-domain measurement of the response function associated with the transfer of a modulation from three-dimensional states above the QW to the quantum-confined two dimensional states. The principle of the experiment is shown using two DFB semiconductor quantum well lasers.