Density variation in the strain-confined electron-hole liquid in Ge

In this paper we theoretically analyze two mechanisms which could account for the experimentally observed increase in pair density for the strain-confined electron-hole liquid (EHL) in Ge. We find that the change in drop density with uniform stress is insufficient to explain the experimental result. However, we find that the strain gradient in the well acts to compress the liquid sufficiently to explain the observed density increases. Densities of twice the equilibrium value can be easily obtained for large enough drop size, but the density should vary by < 10% if the drop radius is < 100 μm.