Optical detection of the absorption of acoustical phonons by a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field

The effect of absorption of nonequilibrium acoustical phonons on the intensity of recombination of a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field is investigated. The nonequilibrium acoustical phonons are emitted in the relaxation of electrons in a tunnel junction deposited on the back side of a sample with a two-dimensional electronic channel. It is demonstrated that the optical signal showing the intensity of the recombination of nonequilibrium electrons from a photoexcited size-quantization subband can serve as a sensitive detector of acoustical phonons. Because the general heating of two-dimensional carriers and the intersubband transitions stimulated by the absorption of nonequilibrium acoustical phonons lead to effects of different sign, the useful signal can be discriminated unambiguously. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 69, No. 1, 30–35 (10 January 1999)     

Nonthermal optical response of superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel structures

Bolometers, which are based on superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor structures integrated into double slot antennas, are designed and fabricated. The change in the tunneling current in such structures during irradiation at a frequency of 330 GHz is experimentally studied at a temperature of about 0.1 K. It is found that, during irradiation, the energy distribution of electrons has a substantially nonequilibrium form, which differs from the Fermi distribution, and the main contribution to the addition to the tunneling current is made by the electrons that have no time to attain equilibrium within the electron system of the normal metal absorber. The characteristic electron and phonon relaxation times are estimated, and the estimates support the fact that the electron system is strongly nonequilibrium in the radiation field.     

(e,2e) and (e,3-1e) coincidence experiments for studying the PCI effect of low energy ionizing electrons in the Auger process of Ar

Our (e,3-1e) measurements for studying the post-collision interaction (PCI) after electron impact inner shell ionization of argon were continued and completed at different energy conditions. Emitted LMM Auger electrons are detected in coincidence with the ionizing scattered electrons and the energy of the slow PCI inducer ejected electron was calculated from energy conservation. Particularly the effect of the very low energy (i.e. 0–5 eV) ejected electrons (strongly asymmetric energy sharing) is studied at 500 and 460 eV primary electron energies. In the latter case, the background caused by outer-shell electrons was measured by itself and then removed from the coincident spectrum. Nevertheless, the evaluation of PCI distorted Auger lines is still considerably disturbed by the resonant Auger electrons from the high Rydberg states, their (e,2e) contribution was estimated in the paper.     

Separation of angular and energy relaxations of nonequilibrium electrons in a solid

We demonstrate that the collision integral of the kinetic equation for the interaction of hot electrons with phonons can be split into substantially different parts that correspond to elastic and inelastic collisions. In particular, this applies to electrons with energies of about 1 eV that propagate in semiconductors. The difference in the characteristic energy and momentum relaxation times makes it possible to separate the angular and energy relaxation processes. If the differential cross section of elastic scattering depends, not on the scattering angle, but on the directions of incident and scattered electrons (which is observed, e.g., for the interaction of an electron with piezoelectric lattice vibrations in A^IIIB^V compounds), the Laplacian in the equation that describes the spatial and energy distributions of electrons can be replaced by an elliptical operator; i.e., the electron diffusion turns out to be anisotropic.     

金属超微粒子-半导体薄膜的光学瞬态响应

利用飞秒脉冲激光和泵浦 探测技术测量了金属超微粒子 半导体复合薄膜Ａｇ-ＢａＯ的瞬态光学透过率随延迟时间的变化曲线，观察到了薄膜对光的吸收漂白现象，并在不到２ｐｓ时间内恢复．该现象是薄膜中金属超微粒子内费密能级附近电子被飞秒激光脉冲激发，产生非平衡电子而经历瞬态弛豫造成的．弛豫主要包括非平衡电子越过超微粒子和周围介质的界面位垒进入周围介质，以及非平衡电子同晶格和界面的散射两种过程．超微粒子粒径的差别会引起非平衡电子弛豫时间的差别 关键词：     

Dynamics of optically excited electrons in the conducting polymer PEDT:PSS

Femtosecond time-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy is employed to study the dynamics of the non-equilibrium electron distribution in the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene): poly-(styrenesulfonate) (PEDT:PSS) film following optical excitation at 2.1 eV. We found that the electron thermalization occurs on a ultrafast timescale of around 60 fs analogous to the relaxation times of optically excited electrons in Au(111).     

The kinetics of low-temperature electron-phonon relaxation in a metallic film following instantaneous heating of the electrons

The theoretical analysis of experiments on pulsed laser irradiation of metallic films sputtered on insulating supports is usually based on semiphenomenological dynamical equations for the electron and phonon temperatures, an approach that ignores the nonuniformity and the nonthermal nature of the phonon distribution function. In this paper we discuss a microscopic model that describes the dynamics of the electron-phonon system in terms of kinetic equations for the electron and phonon distribution functions. Such a model provides a microscopic picture of the nonlinear energy relaxation of the electron-phonon system of a rapidly heated film. We find that in a relatively thick film the energy relaxation of electrons consists of three stages: the emission of nonequilibrium phonons by “hot” electrons, the thermalization of electrons and phonons due to phonon reabsorption, and finally the cooling of the thermalized electron-phonon system as a result of phonon exchange between film and substrate. In thin films, where there is no reabsorption of nonequilibrium phonons, the energy relaxation consists of only one stage, the first. The relaxation dynamics of an experimentally observable quantity, the phonon contribution to the electrical conductivity of the cooling film, is directly related to the dynamics of the electron temperature, which makes it possible to use the data of experiments on the relaxation of voltage across films to establish the electron-phonon and phonon-electron collision times and the average time of phonon escape from film to substrate. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 2106–2133 (June 1997)     

Electron distribution function relaxation in monatomic gases

The authors discuss an analytic solution of the Boltzmann equation which describes the relaxation in time of the electron distribution function for electrons in a plasma derived from the monatomic gases He, Ne, Ar, and Xe. It is assumed that there are no perturbing forces on the electrons and that at t=0 they have a Maxwellian distribution function corresponding to an average energy of 2 eV. The electrons then lose energy through elastic collisions with neutrals and eventually energy-equilibrate with the neutrals, which are assumed to be cold. The evolution of the electron distribution function in time and velocity space is calculated for each gas. This model is approximately correct for the afterglow period of an electrical discharge in a monatomic gas. It is possible to calculate a time which is a measure of the decay time of the electron energy in an afterglow plasma     

Theoretical description of ultrafast phenomena in clusters

A theoretical study of different ultrafast nonequilibrium processes taking place during and after ultrashort excitation of clusters is presented. We discuss similarities and differences for several processes involving nonequilibrium ultrafast motion of atoms and electrons. We study ultrashort relaxation of clusters in response to excitations produced by femtosecond laser pulses of different intensities. We show how different relaxation processes, such as bond breaking, melting, fragmentation, emission of atoms, or Coulomb explosion, can be induced, depending on the laser intensity and laser pulse duration. We also discuss processes involving nonequilibrium electron dynamics, such as intraband Auger decay in clusters and ultrafast electronic motion during collisions between clusters and surfaces. We show that this electron dynamics leads to Stückelberg-like oscillations of measurable quantities, such as the electron emission yield. Received: 4 April 2000 / Accepted: 6 November 2000 / Published online: 9 February 2001     

Femtosecond surface plasmon resonance dynamics and electron-electron interactions in silver nanoparticles

Femtosecond excitation and relaxation of nonequilibrium electrons are investigated in silver clusters using a two color pump-probe technique with resonant excitation of the surface plasmon resonance and off resonant probing. The excitation process is shown to be identical to that in metal films, and permits creation of a strongly athermal single electron excitation in a time scale shorter than the duration of the pulses (25-30 fs), in agreement with the free-electron absorption model. Following the time evolution of the nonequilibrium distribution yields information on the internal energy redistribution dynamics of the conduction electrons and of its modification by confinement in metal clusters. Received 1st December 2000     

Field injection of low-energy electrons into the ZnSe/CdSe/ZnSe heterostructure with the use of an ultra-high-vacuum tunneling microscope

The field emission injection of low-energy electrons (E _e ?? 10 eV) into the ZnSe/CdSe/ZnSe heterostructure has been considered. The probe of the ultra-high-vacuum tunneling microscope has been used as a field emitter. It has been shown that the energy of injected electrons is sufficient for impact ionization in ZnSe. The impact ionization creates a high concentration of nonequilibrium carriers in the near-surface ZnSe layer. The transport of nonequilibrium carriers in the heterostructure under study has been simulated. The electric field of the near-surface space charge and surface recombination have been taken into account. The calculation has demonstrated that filling the active region of CdSe with nonequilibrium carriers is highly efficient.     

Kinetics of Relaxation of Stored Light Sums in Silver Chloride

Experimental investigation of the time and temperature dependences of the process of relaxation of excited silver chloride has been carried out by the method of a photostimulated burst of luminescence. It is found that the relaxation process can be divided into two components, the rates of which differ by an order of magnitude. The activation energies of these processes of 0.03 and 0.06 eV correspond to the thermal ionization energies of electrons from shallow traps. Thermally activated relocalization of charges from shallow to deep traps in the process of relaxation has been revealed. The depth of a corresponding trap appeared equal to 0.17 eV. A model of a crystal phosphor has been suggested that contains five levels in the forbidden band: a hole center of recombination (luminescence), a deep electron trap, two shallow electron traps located at a depth of 0.03 and 0.06 eV from the bottom of the conductivity band, and a hole trap located at a height of 0.17 eV from the valence band top. Within the framework of this model, we can qualitatively explain the time and temperature dependences of stored light sums. We have shown the possibility of applying the method of a photostimulated burst of luminescence to investigation of the processes of relaxation of electron excitations in crystals to establish the relaxation mechanisms.     

Angular and energy distributions of low energy electrons from backscattered-conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy

Angular and energy distributions of backscattered-low energy resonant and nonresonant electrons from iron films are studied both theoretically and experimentally. The results indicate that relatively few emerging resonant or nonresonant electrons are observed/predicted between 600 eV and 50 eV kinetic energy. A significant fraction of the total electron signal emerges, however, below 50 eV, which is shown to result from low energy Auger cascades, low energy shake-off electrons and secondary electrons attributed to higher energy events. The large number of low energy electrons permits relatively short acquisition times (ca. 1h) and enhanced surface sensitivities. They may be especially useful in future depth-deconvolution efforts.     

Second-harmonic spectroscopy of electronic structure of Si/SiO2 multiple quantum wells

Size effects in the resonant nonlinear optical response of amorphous Si/SiO₂ multiple quantum wells (MQW) are studied by second-harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy in a spectral interval of second-harmonic photon energies from 2.5 to 3.4 eV. The sensitivity of SHG spectroscopy to thickness-dependent electronic structure (sub-band energy position and density of states line shape) of MQW is demonstrated. A monotonic red shift of central energies of SHG resonances by 120 m eV upon increase of the well thickness from 2.5 to 10 ? is observed. This is interpreted as a size dependence of the position of singularities in the combined density of states for a 2D gas of electrons moving in an effective potential well. It is shown that, for agreement with experiment, the simplest (rectangular) shape of the well should be modified in order to take into account the lattice-potential distortion at the interfaces. Received: 16 October 2001 / Revised version: 16 April 2002 / Published online: 6 June 2002     

尿嘧啶核苷酸阴离子液相中的过电子附着和电离

本文采用QM/MM方法研究液相尿嘧啶核苷酸阴离子的过电子附着和电离过程. 从分子动力学模拟的轨线抽取了40个采样结构,并计算了在这些采样点的垂直电子亲合势、绝热电子亲合势、垂直电子剥离能、垂直电离能和绝热电离能,分析了过电子附着和电离过程中的过电子及空穴分布. 模拟的垂直电子亲合势和绝热电子亲合势的平均值分别为-0.31 eV和2.13 eV,表明过电子很容易附着到尿嘧啶核苷酸阴离子上. 在尿嘧啶碱基上,垂直和绝热过电子分布的平均值分别为-0.50 eV和-0.62 eV,证明大多数的过电子局域在尿嘧啶碱基上. 双阴离子结构弛豫后,在几个抽样中发现过电子分布也可能会在碱基/糖环或者糖环/磷酸根上非局域化. 2.78 eV的垂直电子剥离能平均值表明,过电子附着后形成的尿嘧啶核苷酸双阴离子非常稳定. 液相尿嘧啶核苷酸阴离子的垂直电离能平均值为8.13 eV,与以前采用溶剂模型模拟的结果一致. 电离中,空穴主要分布在尿嘧啶碱基上,表明其最容易被电离. 在垂直电离中,几个抽样下的空穴会非局域分布在尿嘧啶碱基和糖环上. 绝热的空穴分布表明,在特定结构下,电离后的结构弛豫会导致磷酸根上电子和碱基上空穴转移到糖环上.     

Xe(4d~(10))(e,2e)反应三重微分截面的理论研究

采用修正后的扭曲波玻恩近似理论,计算了共面不对称几何条件下Xe(4d~(10))(e,2e)反应的三重微分截面.散射电子能量为1000 eV,敲出电子能量为20 eV,散射电子角度分别固定在2°,4°和7.5°.理论计算与Avaldi等人的实验结果和扭曲波玻恩近似理论计算进行了比较,发现出射电子之间的后碰撞相互作用较弱,极化效应在反应过程中起着重要作用.     

Diffusion near nonequilibrium steady state

The diffusion equation describing the response of a system in a steady nonequilibrium state to a nonuniform external perturbation is derived from the Boltzmann equation. For transient processes, the diffusion equation governs the slow (final) stage of the process, irrespective to the form of the initial distribution. The initial velocity distribution becomes the local steady-state distribution during the first fast stage of the process. This fast initial relaxation affects only the initial condition for the diffusion equation. Some principal features of the nonequilibrium diffusion constant are discussed. As an illustration, the diffusion constant of hot electrons is calculated in the electron temperature approximation.     

Electron paramagnetic resonance study of the nuclear spin dynamics in an AlAs quantum well

The nuclear spin dynamics in an asymmetrically doped 16-nm AlAs quantum well grown along the [001] direction has been studied experimentally using the time decay of the Overhauser shift of paramagnetic resonance of conduction electrons. The nonzero spin polarization of nuclei causing the initial observed Overhauser shift is due the relaxation of the nonequilibrium spin polarization of electrons into the nuclear subsystem near electron paramagnetic resonance owing to the hyperfine interaction. The measured relaxation time of nuclear spins near the unity filling factor is (530 ± 30) min at the temperature T = 0.5 K. This value exceeds the characteristic spin relaxation times of nuclei in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures by more than an order of magnitude. This fact indicates the decrease in the strength of the hyperfine interaction in the AlAs quantum well in comparison with GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures.     

Generation of low energy resonant electrons during relaxation of57Fe

Collection of low energy electrons (<15 eV) duringConversionElectronMossbauerSpectroscopy (CEMS) provides enhanced surface sensitivity. Spectra collected from a 0.928⁵⁷Fe foil using retarding field energy analyzers in conjunction with spiraltron electron multipliers demonstrates both resonant and nonresonant count rates which decrease by as much as 50% at 10 eV bias potential. Spectra from samples with the topmost 1.0 nm chemically labeled had total spectral areas of 99.0%mm/sec. The area ratio of the resonant 1.0 nm overlayer to the resonant substrate was 1.43 at 0 eV bias potential while at 15 eV the ratio decreased to 0.72. By vacuum evaporating a 5.0 nm copper coating on the sample, near complete attenuation of the low energy electrons from the 1.0 nm overlayer was achieved. These results suggest that some low energy electrons below 15 eV are formed as primary products of electronic relaxation following nuclear decay and that they are not the result of straggling or other scattering phenomena.