Theory of the non-radiative recombination of electrons at perturbation centres in polar crystals

Non-radiative recombination of electrons at a perturbation centre in a polar crystal is considered as a single phonon transition of a polaron in a non-adiabatic approximation from the continuous spectrum to the discrete excited state in a perturbation centre. The perturbation causing a transition is taken as the interaction of a polaron with a free phonon field leading to the production and disappearance of phonons in the neighbourhood of the perturbation centre. Calculation is carried out of the recombination coefficient and the effective cross-section for recombination as a function of the temperature for perturbation centres of the Coulomb type in crystals of ZnS.