Femtosecond pulse shaping for coherent carrier control

We investigate coherent control of exciton dynamics in semiconductor quantum wells with Fourier-domain shaped pulses. Off-resonant optical nutation is demonstrated after excitation of quantum wells with two phase-locked pulses of different energy. The effect can be modeled with semiconductor Bloch equations. Resonant excitation of multiple quantum wells with a square pulse is shown to induce a rise in differential reflectivity only after the end of the pulse.