Optical Josephson Effect in Semiconductors

Abstract

The Josephson effect in excitonic systems composed of high-density electron-hole pairs is predicted to arise in coupled semiconductors which are excited by two laser beams. Although an electron-hole pair does not have a net electric charge, this effect arises from the phase difference between excitonic states with a macroscopic quantum coherence which can directly be generated and controlled by two incident laser beams. The tunneling supercurrent of bound electron-hole pairs is observed as the intensity difference between transmitted light beams.