Generation and coherent control of all-optically induced single-color currents in (110)-oriented GaAs quantum wells

In the last few decades the study of ultrafast phenomena in GaAs gained worldwide attention showing potential for novel developments of ultrafast devices and techniques in metrology and communications. In this thesis ultrafast all-optically induced photocurrents, namely shift and injection currents, are excited in (110)-oriented GaAs quantum wells by 130 fs optical pulses, which result in simultaneously emitted terahertz radiation. The terahertz radiation being a signature of the all-optically induced currents is measured using electro-optic sampling. The measurements provide a deep insight about influence of exciton transitions, valence bandmixing, and quantum interference of the heavy-hole and light-hole wavefunctions on the all-optically induced photocurrents.