We consider theoretically the role of crossed transitions on the interband optical properties of quantum dots. These transitions, which involve one bound state and one delocalized state, are inherent to the joint nature of the valence-to-conduction density of states in quantum dots. We show that they play a crucial role both on the interband absorption and on the broadening of the quantum dot lines.

In this Letter we investigate a low dimensional semiconductor system, in which the light-matter interaction is enhanced by the cooperative behavior of a large number of dipolar oscillators, at different frequencies, mutually phase locked by Coulomb interaction. We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that, owing to this phenomenon, the optical response of a semiconductor quantum well with several occupied subbands is a single sharp resonance, associated with the excitation of a bright multisubband plasmon. This effect illustrates how the whole oscillator strength of a two-dimensional system can be concentrated into a single resonance independently from the shape of the confining potential. When this cooperative excitation is tuned in resonance with a cavity mode, their coupling strength can be increased monotonically with the electronic density, allowing the achievement of the ultrastrong coupling regime up to room temperature.

Free space optics data transmission with bitrate in excess of 10 Gbit s⁻¹ is demonstrated at 9 µm wavelength by using a unipolar quantum optoelectronic system at room temperature, composed of a quantum cascade laser, a modulator, and a quantum cascade detector. The large frequency bandwidth of the system is set by the detector and the modulator that are both high frequency devices, while the laser emits in continuous wave. The amplitude modulator relies on the Stark shift of an absorbing optical transition in and out of the laser frequency. This device is designed to avoid charge displacement, and therefore it is characterized by an intrinsically large bandwidth and very low electrical power consumption. This demonstration of high‐bitrate data transmission sets unipolar quantum devices as the most performing platform for the development of optoelectronic systems operating at very high frequency in the mid‐infrared for several applications, such as digital communications and high‐resolution spectroscopy.

We demonstrate mid-infrared detectors embedded into an array of double-metal nano-antennas. The antennas act as microcavities that squeeze the electric field into thin semiconductor layers, thus enhancing the detector responsivity. Furthermore, thanks to the ability of the antennas to gather photons from an area larger than the device's physical dimensions, the dark current is reduced without hindering the photo-generation rate. In these devices, the background-limited performance is improved with a consequent increase of the operating temperature. Our results illustrate how the antenna-coupled microcavity concept can be applied to enhance the performances of infrared opto-electronic devices.