Photon-magnetoexciton coupling in quantum wells induced by in-plane electric field

We theoretically investigate the coupling of light with magnetoexcitons in near-surface quantum wells under the action of a static electric field parallel to the well plane. Such a coupling is here described within the Stahl's real-space density-matrix approach. In particular, we have solved the system of equations for the coherent-wave amplitude and the electromagnetic fields for InGaAs/GaAs quantum-well heterostructures and calculated their reflectivity spectra. We have found that a parallel electric field of magnitude similar to 1-10 kV/cm can considerably alter the line shape of optical spectra due to the resonant coupling of light with magnetoexcitons having nonzero angular momentum projection. Besides, we have studied the changes in the profile of the optical spectra as the thickness of the heterostructure cap layer is decreased until it is comparable with the exciton radius and, consequently, the interaction of the magnetoexciton with the sample surface becomes strong. (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3524549]