Fano profile in the intersubband terahertz response of photoexcited GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

In our work we probe the conduction intersubband transition of an undoped GaAs/Al0.34Ga0.66As multiple quantum well via broadband terahertz pulses after resonant photoexcitation at the 1s heavy-hole exciton. The pump-induced change in the transmitted terahertz field shows a strong beating. In the frequency domain this results in an asymmetric Fano-like line shape for the intersubband resonance and an additional broad low-frequency peak. However, the total THz absorption shows only the single symmetric peak of the intersubband transition. In our microscopic theory these signatures unambiguously originate from the phase sensitive superposition of ponderomotive and terahertz intersubband currents.