Heating of nonequilibrium electrons by laser radiation in solid transparent dielectrics

A computer simulation of the heating of nonequilibrium electrons by an intense high-frequency electromagnetic field leading to the bulk damage of solid transparent dielectrics under single irradiation has been carried out. The dependences of the avalanche ionization rate on threshold field strength have been derived. Using the Fokker-Planck equation with a flux-doubling boundary condition is shown to lead to noticeable errors even at a ratio of the photon energy to the band gap ∼0.1. The series of dependences of the critical fields on pulse duration have been constructed for various initial lattice temperatures and laser wavelengths, which allow the electron avalanche to be identified as a limiting breakdown mechanism. The ratio of the energy stored in the electron subsystem to the excess (with respect to the equilibrium state) energy of the phonon subsystem by the end of laser pulse action has been calculated both with and without allowance for phonon heating. The influence of phonon heating on the impact avalanche ionization rate is analyzed.     

超热电子角分布和能谱的实验研究

对超短超强脉冲激光与固体薄膜靶相互作用产生的超热电子的空间分布和能谱特性进行了研究. 结果表明，超热电子的角分布和能谱均表现出各向异性. 分析认为这主要与超热电子产生的机制有关. 能谱的各向异性解释了目前各研究小组在相同的激光功率密度下，得到的超热电子温度却有很大差别的现象. 关键词： 飞秒激光 等离子体 能谱 角分布 各向异性     

Thermalization of nonequilibrium electrons in quantum wires

We study the problem of energy relaxation in a one-dimensional electron system. The leading thermalization mechanism is due to three-particle collisions. We show that for the case of spinless electrons in a single channel quantum wire the corresponding collision integral can be transformed into an exactly solvable problem. The latter is known as the Schr?dinger equation for a quantum particle moving in a P?schl-Teller potential. The spectrum for the resulting eigenvalue problem allows for bound-state solutions, which can be identified with the zero modes of the collision integral, and a continuum of propagating modes, which are separated by a gap from the bound states. The inverse gap gives the time scale at which counterpropagating electrons thermalize.     

Spin fluctuations of nonequilibrium electrons and excitons in semiconductors

Effects that are related to deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium have a special place in modern physics. Among these, nonequilibrium phenomena in quantum systems attract the highest interest. The experimental technique of spin-noise spectroscopy has became quite widespread, which makes it possible to observe spin fluctuations of charge carriers in semiconductors under both equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. This calls for the development of a theory of spin fluctuations of electrons and electron–hole complexes for nonequilibrium conditions. In this paper, we consider a range of physical situations where a deviation from equilibrium becomes pronounced in the spin noise. A general method for the calculation of electron and exciton spin fluctuations in a nonequilibrium state is proposed. A short review of the theoretical and experimental results in this area is given.     

Angular and energy dependences of the surface excitation parameter for electrons crossing a solid surface

When fast electrons cross a solid surface, surface plasmons may be generated. Surface plasmon excitations induced by electrons moving in the vacuum are generally characterized by the surface excitation parameter. This parameter was calculated for 200-1000 eV electrons crossing the surfaces of Au, Cu, Ag, Fe, Si, Ni, Pd, MgO and SiO₂ with various crossing angles. Such calculations were performed based on the dielectric response theory for both incident (from vacuum to solid) and escaping (from solid to vacuum) electrons. Calculated results showed that the surface excitation parameter increased with crossing angle but decreased with electron energy. This was due to the longer time for electron-surface interaction by glancing incident or escaping electrons and by slow moving electrons. The results were fitted very well to a simple formula, i.e. , where P_s is the surface excitation parameter, E is the electron energy, α is the angle between the electron trajectory and the surface normal, and a, b and c are material dependent constants.     

Transport of nonequilibrium electrons in photoemission from semibounded medium

The equation is formulated and accurately solved for the problem of the transport of photoexcited electrons which undergo scattering before reaching vacuum, with the formation of an electron-hole pair, as well as multiple scattering of elastic type. The analytical expressions obtained permit calculations of the spectral composition of the emitted-electron flux and the quantum yield of photoemission. The limiting expression for the probability that secondary electrons will reach the vacuum which is obtained when the elastic-scattering mechanism is switched off is compared with literature data.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 86–92, October, 1987.     

Sub-picosecond Raman spectroscopy and dynamics of nonequilibrium electrons and phonons in semiconductors

Recent progress made in the use of time-resolved pump-probe Raman scattering technique to study the dynamics of photo-excited nonequilibrium carriers and LO-phonons in III–V semiconductors up to the sub-picosecond time scale will be discussed. It will be shown how this technique has allowed direct time-domain measurements of electron-LO-phonon scattering times for “hot” carriers and lifetimes for “hot” LO-phonons in semiconductors like GaAs. The presentation will include new experimental results of Kash, Jha and Tsang on picosecond Raman studies of the Fröhlich interaction in alloys like Al _x Ga _1?x As and In _x Ga _1?x As. The present theoretical understanding of the dynamics of the highly excited carriers, dominated by strong LO-phonon emission, will be examined along with the discussion of a recent calculation of transient electrical conductivity of such hot carriers, showing extremely interesting oscillations with respect to the pump laser frequency, on the scale of the long wavelength LO-phonon frequency, and a highly nonlinear behaviour as a function of time.     

Analysis of the angular distribution of Auger electrons in a Xe atom

The angular distribution of Auger electrons, and the numerically calculated anisotropy parameters of the angular distribution α for (M₃ → N₂N₃), (M₃ → N₃N₃), (M₄ → N₁N₃), (M₄ → N₄N₅), (M₄ → N₅N₅), and (M_4,5 → O_{2, 3}O_{2, 3}) transitions in a Xe atom are given. The matrix elements are calculated by using the nonrelativistic Hartree-Fock method in LS coupling and the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Dirac method in both jj coupling (the single-configuration approximation) and intermediate coupling (the multiconfiguration approximation).     

The energy spectrum of electrons in a crystal

The principal theorems concerning these characters are presented.     

Conduction electrons in solid and liquid gallium

We have studied the photoemission properties of liquid, supercooled and crystalline gallium with photon energies up to 6.5 eV. The spectra of the liquid phase are well described by the free electron model, whereas in the solid the density of states is reduced near the Fermi level. The observed changes in the electronic structure at the melting point are explained by the essential change in the ionic short range order.     

Fermi energy of electrons in a thin metallic plate

A strict analytical expression for the Fermi energy of electrons in a thin metallic plate as a function of the plate thickness at a given electron density has been derived for the first time. The derivation has been carried out taking into account the size quantization in the free-electron approximation at zero temperature.     

Relativistic Compton scattering from moving electrons and angular moments

Using the invariant, four-dimensional representation of the photon-electron interaction derived from quantum electrodynamics, we obtain analytical expressions for the Legendre moments of the scattering kernel, given arbitrary distributions of initial electrons and specified energy ranges. Monoenergetic and Maxwellian electrons distributions are briefly discussed and the partial wave expansion of the static Klein-Nishina formula included.     

Polarization and angular distribution of the radiation of electrons moving in a focusing magnetic field

The angular distribution of the linear-polarization components is found for the radiation of an electron moving in a nonuniform weak-focusing magnetic field. The distribution shape is studied as a function of the amplitudes of the axial and radial betatron oscillations. It is shown that the minimum intensity of the component of the radiation does not vanish, in contrast with the case of a uniform field.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Fizika, No. 3, pp. 52–58, March, 1971.The authors thank A. A. Sokolov for suggesting the topic and for fruitful discussions.     

Elastic scattering of slow electrons by calcium atoms into an angular range depending on the collision energy

The use of trochoidal and hypocycloidal spectrometers that are applied in modern experimental techniques for studying processes of electron scattering by atoms, ions, and surfaces is considered in some detail. The angular range of the collection of scattered electrons is determined by the operation mode of the spectrometer and depends on the collision energy. To analyze the structure of the measured energy dependence S(E), an analytical formalism reflecting both resonance and nonresonance features of low-energy scattering was used. A theoretical analysis of elastic scattering of slow (to 2 eV) electrons by Ca atoms permitted the interpretation of the observed structure of S(E) as a manifestation of the ² D shape resonance. A comparison of the theoretical values of the S(E) function with the total and differential scattering cross sections was performed.     

Near-equilibrium measurements of nonequilibrium free energy

A central endeavor of thermodynamics is the measurement of free energy changes. Regrettably, although we can measure the free energy of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, typically all we can say about the free energy of a nonequilibrium ensemble is that it is larger than that of the same system at equilibrium. Herein, we derive a formally exact expression for the probability distribution of a driven system, which involves path ensemble averages of the work over trajectories of the time-reversed system. From this we find a simple near-equilibrium approximation for the free energy in terms of an excess mean time-reversed work, which can be experimentally measured on real systems. With analysis and computer simulation, we demonstrate the accuracy of our approximations for several simple models.     

固体炸药爆轰的一种考虑热学非平衡的反应流动模型

基于固体炸药爆轰过程中化学反应混合区内的固相反应物与气相生成物处于力学平衡状态及热学非平衡状态的事实,提出一种考虑热学非平衡效应的反应流动模型来描述固体炸药的爆轰流动现象.该爆轰流动模型的主要特点是,在反应混合物Euler方程和固相反应物质量守恒方程的基础上,通过附加一套关于固相反应物的组分物理量的流动控制方程来表达固相反应物与气相生成物之间的热学非平衡效应.根据反应混合区内固相反应物与气相生成物这两种化学组分保持各自内能守恒的混合规则,并借助它们具有压力相等的性质以及满足体积分数总和为1的条件,推导获得的附加方程有：固相反应物的内能演化方程、体积分数演化方程及反应混合物的压力演化方程.这样,建立的爆轰模型包括：反应混合物的质量守恒方程、动量守恒方程、总能量守恒方程、压力演化方程,以及固相反应物的质量守恒方程、内能演化方程、体积分数演化方程.对所获得的爆轰模型方程组采用一个时空二阶精度的有限体积法进行数值求解,典型爆轰问题算例结果表明本文提出的固体炸药爆轰模型是合理的.     

Roles of nonequilibrium conduction electrons on the magnetization dynamics of ferromagnets

The mutual dependence of spin-dependent conduction and magnetization dynamics of ferromagnets provides the key mechanisms in various spin-dependent phenomena. We compute the response of the conduction electron spins in a spatial and time varying magnetization M(r,t) in the time-dependent semiclassical transport theory. We show that the induced nonequilibrium conduction spin density in turn generates four spin torques acting on the magnetization-with each torque playing a different role in magnetization dynamics. By comparing with recent theoretical models, we find that one of these torques which has not been previously identified is crucial to consistently interpreting experimental data on domain wall motion.     

激光与固体靶相互作用中低密度预等离子体对高能电子产生的影响

对线极化、圆极化的超短超强激光脉冲与靶前有一段低密度预等离子体的固体靶的相互作用进行了理论和粒子模拟研究。激光通过有质动力加速机制加速预等离子体中的电子,研究了电子获得的最大能量随激光强度和预等离子体密度的变化。当激光脉冲与靶直接作用时,靶中的电子由于JB机制而得到加速,所获得的能量比预等离子体中电子低。研究表明,在超短超强激光脉冲与固体靶相互作用中,预等离子体的存在有利于高能电子的产生。