We present experimental coherent two-dimensional Fourier transform spectra of the exciton resonances in semiconductor quantum wells for a pulse sequence that isolates two-quantum coherences. By measuring the real part of the spectra, we can determine
that the spectra are dominated by two quantum coherences due to many-body interactions, not bound biexcitons. Simulations performed using dynamics controlled truncation agree well with the experiments.
We propose a three-pulse coherent ultrafast optical technique that is particularly sensitive to two-exciton correlations. Two Liouville-space pathways for the density matrix contribute to this signal which reveals double quantum coherences when displ
ayed as a two-dimensional correlation plot. Two-exciton couplings spread the cross peaks along both axes, creating a characteristic highly resolved pattern. This level of detail is not available from conventional one-dimensional four-wave mixing or other two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy signals such as the photo echo, in which two-exciton couplings show up along a single axis and are highly congested.
