Acoustic soliton is the strain pulse with subpicosecond duration and amplitude up to 0.01. Such a giant strain produces significant changes in the energy spectrum of semiconductor nanostructure due to the modulation of its band gap. The energy shift of electron levels induced by acoustic soliton may reach the value of 100 meV. This ultrafast energy modulation of resonance states gives the opportunity to control frequency and intensity of light emitted from nanostructure. The resonance semiconductor nanostructures with an emitting layer placed into optical resonator are the most promising object for this purpose.

The present work is the review of our recent studies of the effect of acoustic soliton on electron spectra and light emission of semiconductor nanostructures [Phys. Rev. Lett 97, 037401 (2006); Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 057402 (2007)]. The samples under study are structures with single quantum well (QW) and planar microcavity (MC). Strain pulse is generated by femtosecond laser heating of metal film evaporated on the back side of the studied sample. The pulse propagates through the sample and, if initial amplitude is high, transforms into the train of acoustic solitons due to the nonlinear elastic properties of the media. Reaching the semiconductor nanostructure acoustic soliton modifies the electron spectra, which are probed optically using time-resolved reflectivity or photoluminescence. In the structures with single QW the subpicosecond duration of a soliton is less than the coherence time of the optical transition between electron levels. The soliton-induced 10-meV energy shift of these levels leads to the chirping effect - frequency modulation of emitted light within the coherence time. The frequency and intensity modulation of photoluminescence on a picosecond time scale is realized in the structures with planar MC. The further fundamental and applied studies based on the energy modulation of resonance states by acoustic soliton are discussed.

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