https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00217-3
Microscopic theory of optical excitations, photoluminescence, and terahertz response in semiconductors
Fachbereich Physik und Wissenschaftliches Zentrum für
Materialwissenschaften, Philipps Universität,
Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
Corresponding author: a stephan.w.koch@physik.uni-marburg.de
Received:
15
April
2005
Revised:
9
June
2005
Published online:
9
August
2005
This article presents a comprehensive many-body theory for optically excited semiconductors. The coupled equations of motion for the correlation functions of the Coulomb-interacting electron-hole system are derived and solved for different excitation conditions. The generation of a coherent excitonic polarization and its conversion into incoherent populations is analyzed. The spontaneous emission properties of the excited system are evaluated using a fully quantized theory. Luminescence from excitonic and electron-hole plasma populations is computed, and significant hole burning in the exciton center of mass distributions is predicted. It is shown how different excitations states of the many-body system can be identified by their characteristic signatures in the absorption spectra of a terahertz probe field.
PACS: 71.35.-y – Excitons and related phenomena / 42.50.-p – Quantum optics / 78.47.+p – Time-resolved optical spectroscopies and other ultrafast optical measurements in condensed matter
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2005