Controlling photon absorption in photonic nanowires via dipole-dipole interaction.

The effect of the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) on absorption processes has been investigated in photonic nanowires. They are manufactured by embedding a photonic crystal into another crystal. The embedded crystal is doped with an ensemble of three-level quantum dots. A probe field is applied to monitor the absorption coefficient. A control field is applied to induce dipole moments in quantum dots. Owing to these fields dipoles are induced in quantum dots, and they interact with each other via the DDI. Quantum dots also interact with bound photon states of the nanowire via the electron-bound photon interaction. It is found that the system can be switched from a transparent state to an absorbing state through the DDI. The switching mechanism can be controlled by changing the location of a resonant energy in the quantum dots.