title: Interaction of strong single-cycle terahertz pulses with semiconductor quantum wells.
abstract: An experiment-theory comparison is presented to demonstrate terahertz-induced extreme-nonlinear transients in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well system. The terahertz-pump and optical-probe experiments show pronounced spectral modulations of the light- and heavy-hole excitonic resonances. Excellent agreement with the results of microscopic many-body calculations is obtained, identifying clear ponderomotive contributions and the generation of terahertz harmonics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Danielson
authors.forename: Yun-Shik
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Prineas
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kira
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Koch