We study irreversible ultrafast dynamics caused by interaction of a semiconductor quantum-dot–metallic-nanorod system with an infrared laser field. We show that when this system supports exciton-plasmon coupling, by just varying the amplitude of this laser for a short period of time (several nanoseconds), one can decide the instance when the plasmon field of the nanorod becomes significant and its duration. This is done by showing that a sudden rise in the amplitude of the infrared laser (positive pulse) can induce irreversible transition from one of the collective molecular states of this system to another, making the plasmon field significant. When this amplitude reduces for a short period of time (negative pulse), the system returns back to its initial state, suppressing this field. We provide a detailed description of how, depending on the location, the infrared-induced dynamics can lend itself to different time-dependent plasmon fields around the nanorod. Our results show that at a given moment of time at each location we can have dramatically different types of dynamics for the phase and amplitude of the plasmon field. Using these we show that a quantum-dot–metallic-nanoparticle system can act as an all-optical and logic gate.

• Received 10 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.023808