Coherent propagation of polaritons in semiconductor heterostructures: Nonlinear pulse transmission in theory and experiment

The influence of coherent optical nonlinearities on polariton effects is studied by means of a detailed comparison of theory and experiment. A unique approach that combines a microscopic treatment of the boundary problem in a sample of finite thickness with excitonic and biexcitonic nonlinearities is introduced. Spectral changes that depend on the light polarization are analyzed for single pulse transmission and pump and probe excitation.