Investigation of carrier heating and spectral hole burning in semiconductor amplifiers by highly nondegenerate four-wave mixing

Abstract

A highly nondegenerate (up to 1 THz) four-wave mixing experiment is performed in a bulk semiconductor amplifier. The simultaneous presence of carrier heating and spectral hole burning shows up in a four-wave mixing experiment. A simple physical picture is given that explains the relative weight of the two saturation mechanisms in active semiconductor devices.