Effect of electron-electron interaction on nonlinear near-resonance electromagnetic response of quantum dot systems

We theoretically investigated the nonlinear near-resonance electromagnetic response of quantum dot systems caused by interlevel electron transitions. The effect of electron-electron (e-e) interaction in the systems on the response was taken into account by the use of a self-consistent field approach in the quasi-static limit within the density matrix formalism under stationary conditions. Analysis and numerical simulations showed the possibility of realizing the intrinsic optical bistability in quantum dot systems due to the e-e interaction. The results obtained could find application in design, fabrication, and exploitation of all-optical quantum dot-based switches.