Research on quantum-coherence effects, such as slow light and electromagnetically induced transparency, has attracted interest recently and has motivated physicists and engineers to investigate condensed-matter systems suitable to achieve these effects in optoelectronic devices. One possibility is the use of quantum coherence in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). These systems are promising candidates because of possible long dephasing times and atomic-like properties. Using atomic quantum-coherence theory without inclusion of many-body effects, various ideas for quantum coherence in QDs were analyzed by others. [1] Here, we will focus on the many-body aspects and the differences to the independent-particle treatment of quantum coherence in QDs. For our investigation we use the semiconductor Bloch equations [2], modified for a Λ system. A relatively detailed description of the electronic states of a coupled QD-QW system and the coupling of these states via collisions in the relaxation rate approximation is included.
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