Resonant modulational instability and self-induced transmission effects in semiconductors: Maxwell-Bloch formalism

The nonlinear optical properties of semiconductors near an excitonic resonance are theoretically investigated by using the macroscopic J-model [Th. Oestreich and A. Knorr, Phys. Rev. B 48, 17811 (1993); ibid. 50, 5717 (1994)] based on the microscopic semiconductor Bloch equations. These nonlinear properties cause modulational instability of long light pulses with large gain, and give rise to a self-induced transmission of short light pulses in a semiconductor. By an example of the latter well studied effect the validity of the used macroscopic model is demonstrated and a good agreement is found with both existing theoretical and experimental results.