Low-frequency instabilities of electron-hole plasmas in crossed fields

Using local point-contact probes, we observed two types of low-frequency instabilities inn-InSb at 85 K if the samples were exposed to crossed fields. One is a local density instability with threshold frequencies off = 1 20 Mc, the other a more turbulent current instability. The threshold values ofU ₀ andB for the onset of these instabilities and the dependence of their amplitudes on the fields have been measured.If a rectangular semiconductor slab is placed in crossed fields, regions of high electric field strength at opposite edges of the contacts are caused by the distortion of the Hall field, giving rise to the generation of electron-hole plasmas by impact ionization. These plasmas are the sources of the observed instabilities. This is especially evident in the case of the local density instability, which originates at the anode high field corner. Several possible reasons for the development of the instabilities are discussed.     

Renormalized diffusion coefficients for electron-hole plasmas in crossed fields

The diffusion and drift of an excess plasma in a semiconductor is described with magnetohydrodynamic two-fluid equations including the fluctuating electric field produced by the equilibrium plasma in the sample. Using the weak coupling limit an equation of motion for the mean density of the excess plasma is established with renormalized drift and diffusion coefficients. With the aid of the fluctuation dissipation theorem these coefficients are expressed in terms of the dielectric function and discussed in detail for stable systems. The renormalized diffusion coefficient differs from the bare one by an additional term with thet ^–3/2-long time dependence. It is shown that this term in addition represents an anomalous diffusion rate proportionalB ^–1 which overweights the classical ambipolar diffusion for sufficiently strong fields, but decreases with increasing external electric field. The results are compared with experimental data.     

Motion of electron-hole drops in low magnetic fields

The effect of magnetic fields on the motion of electron-hole drops in germanium is studied. A non-uniform strain is used to provide a known and controllable driving force for drop motion in the sample plane. Contrary to the results of earlier experiments in which drop motion was normal to the sample plane, the results are consistent with conventional models of drop-phenomenon interaction and weak magnetic fields have no observable effects on this motion.     

Propagation and spreading of unstable perturbations in electron-hole plasmas subject to crossed fields

A model is developed for electrostatic drift instabilities which arise in inhomogeneous electron-hole plasmas subject to crossed fieldsE ₀B ₀. The instabilities are initiated by gradients in the equilibrium plasma densityn ₀. Using two-fluid magnetohydrodynamics and linear perturbation theory the dispersion relation of local density oscillations is calculated for arbitrary inhomogeneous equilibrium distributions and plasma densities. For cases wheren ₀B ₀ andn ₀ ⁺ n ₀ ^- it is found that the propagation direction of maximal gain, , is the bisectrix of the angle between (–n ₀) and (E ₀ ×B ₀) and that stable and unstable configurations are distinguished by the angle between ₀ andn ₀. A local density perturbation built by superpositions of the plane waves, and initially chosen radially symmetric, broadens unisotropically. In the direction transverse to the broadening is anomaleously enhanced, as compared to the broadening by diffusion in the stable case. The results are referred to experimental observations of low-frequency instabilities reported in [1].     

Spatial-temporal measurements of magnetic fields in laser-produced plasmas

The results of an investigation of the electromagnetic wave polarization, probing high-temperature laser plasma, as well as spatial-temporal structure of the magnetic fields, electron density, current density, and electron drift velocity are presented. To create the plasma, plane massive Al targets were irradiated with the second harmonic of a phoenix Nd laser at intensities up to 5·10¹⁴ W/cm². It was shown that the magnetooptical Faraday effect is the main mechanism responsible for the changing polarization of the probing wave. Magnetic fields up to 0.4 MG with electron densities ∼10²⁰ cm⁻³ were measured. Analysis of the magnetic field spatial distribution showed that the current density achieved the value ∼90 MA/cm² on the laser axis. The radial structure of the magnetic field testified to the availability of the reversed current in the laser plasma. The spatial and temporal resolutions in these experiments were equaled to ∼5 μsec and ∼50 psec, respectively. Translated from Preprint No. 35 of the Lebedev Physics Institute, Moscow, 1993.     

Structure of magnetic fields generated in laser produced plasmas

A numerical model is used to interpret recent results on magnetic fields generated in laser plasma experiments. Satisfactory agreement is found between model predictions and experimental observations of the morphology of the field. The principal features of the measured density profile are also reproduced.     

Measuring magnetic fields in plasmas by means of light scattering

The theory of light scattering in plasmas containing a magnetic field yields the special case of modulated scattering spectra. The modulation frequency is governed by the field in the plasma and is equal to the electron cyclotron frequency. In this investigation magnetic fields in a plasma were determined by a laser scattering experiment. The experimental data were: electron densityn _e=10¹⁶cm^?3, electron temperatureT _e=3.2 eV, scattering angle θ=90 °, scattering parameter α=0.6, and a maximum field in the plasma of 125 kG. The spectrum measured at the maximum magnetic field was modulated with 3.6 × 10¹¹ Hz. In scattering experiments with a field reduced by about 20% the observed modulation frequency was 2.8 × 10¹¹ Hz. A thermal spectrum with a smooth profile was found when no field was present in the plasma. Applying the theory of cyclotron modulated spectra one obtains from the scattering experiment magnetic fields of 128, 100, and 0 kG. Within the experimental accuracy these values agree well with the fields determined by means of magnetic probes. Other possible interpretations of the measured deviations from thermal spectra (modulation with the plasma frequency or additional cold electron components in the plasma) are discussed, but they afford no explanation. This experiment has domonstrated that magnetic fields in plasmas can be measured locally and almost without disturbance by means of light scattering.     

Effects of electron-hole correlation on ultrasonic attenuation in bismuth in strong magnetic fields

A theory is developed on giant quantum attenuation of ultrasound in bismuth. The present theory successfully explains the following experimental results in strong magnetic fields (H 100 kG): (i) When two attenuation peaks, the one due do electrons and the other due to holes, coincide as a function of magnetic field, the attenuation is exceptionally large at temperatures around 1 K and decreases rapidly with increasing temperatures; (ii) on the contrary, an isolated attenuation peak shows only a weak temperature dependence; (iii) the line shape of an isolated hole peak is highly asymmetric. The theory includes both intraband and interband impurity scatterings, acoustic phonon scattering, and takes account of Coulomb correlation effects via electron-electron, hole-hole and electron-hole two-body distribution functions. As a result, the electron-hole attractive correlation is found to play a crucial role in making the large attenuation mentioned in (i). For (ii), the electron-hole correlation is ineffective because of the large difference in Fermi velocities, and the acoustic phonon scattering is found to be important. Finally, the result (iii) is attributed to the small density of states of the reservoir Landau subbands in the strong magnetic field regime. The present theory assumes no phase transition to account for the result (i) in contrast to previous theories.     

Transport of degenerate electron-hole plasmas in Si and Ge

At low crystal temperatures, pulsed-laser excitation of Si and Ge can produce a mobile electron-hole plasma with a Fermi energy much larger than k_BT. The motion of this degenerate plasma away from the excitation surface depends intimately on its interactions with high-frequency phonons. Momentum damping and phonon-wind forces are principal factors which determine the plasma motion on nanosecond and longer time scales. A variety of luminescence and heat-pulse experiments are reviewed here which characterize the transport behavior of photo-generated electron-hole plasma in these indirect-gap semiconductors.     

Correlation energy and excitation spectra of two-dimensional electron-hole systems in high magnetic fields

The correlation phenomena in two-dimensional semiconductors in high transverse magnetic fields are considered. A diagram expansion convergent at any temperatures T is obtained due to the special choice of an initial approximation. The expansion parameter appears equal to (E_o/T)exp(-E_o/2T) where E_o is the exciton binding energy. The expansion parameter of the usual Matsubara diagram technique would be proportional to 1/T, if the noninteracting electron-hole system were choosen as the initial approximation, due to the infinite degree of degeneracy of the ground state. The system proves equivalent to the slightly non-ideal exciton gas with the same long-wave properties as the two-dimensional Bose gas. The Hartree-Fock approximation is exact at T = 0, but there is no phase transition with a long-range order creation at T≠0 in contrast to the HFA results (although there remain some properties of the transition such as the maximum of specific heat etc.). The Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition is predicted in the system for very low temperatures. The diagram technique developed may be employed to treat the thermodynamics of other infinitely-fold degenerated systems.     

Diffusion exchange NMR spectroscopy in inhomogeneous magnetic fields

Two-dimensional diffusion exchange experiments in the presence of a strong, static magnetic field gradient are presented. The experiments are performed in the stray field of a single sided NMR sensor with a proton Larmor frequency of 11.7 MHz. As a consequence of the strong and static magnetic field gradient the magnetization has contributions from different coherence pathways. In order to select the desired coherence pathways, a suitable phase cycling scheme is introduced. The pulse sequence is applied to study diffusion as well as the molecular exchange properties of organic solvents embedded in a mesoporous matrix consisting of a sieve of zeolites with a pore size of 0.8 nm and grain size of 2 μm. This pulse sequence extends the possibilities of the study of transport properties in porous media, with satisfying sensitivity in measurement times of a few hours, in a new generation of relatively inexpensive low-field NMR mobile devices.     

Simple determination of electron densities in plasmas submitted to magnetic fields

A method is described to measure electron densities in plasmas with a sufficiently strong magnetic field superposed. The profiles of the spectral lines emitted by such a plasma are shaped by the Stark and Zeeman effect (Lorentz-triplet). Eliminating the central Zeeman component by a polarizer or observing in field direction, one gets a doublet, in which for a given spectral line and magnetic field strength the ratioI ₀/I _z of minimum to maximum intensities is only a function of the electron density. Measuring this ratio one finds the corresponding densities by means of calibration curves given below for the He I lineλ=5876 å. This calibration is independent of the spectral arrangement, when utilizing a polarizer for the spectral observation.     

Effect of small-scale de magnetic fields on filamentation in laser-produced plasmas

A mechanism driving filamentation instability by self-generated small-scale magnetic fields in laser-produced plasmas is suggested with use of a simplified model. The wavelength dependence of the filamentation mechanism is very strong. The predictions of the model are consistent with experimental observations.     

Formation of collisionless high-beta plasmas by odd-parity rotating magnetic fields

Odd-parity rotating magnetic fields (RMFo) applied to mirror-configuration plasmas have produced average electron energies exceeding 200 eV at line-averaged electron densities of approximately 10(12) cm-3. These plasmas, sustained for over 10(3)tauAlfven, have low Coulomb collisionality, vc* triple bond L/lambdaC approximately 10(-3), where lambdaC is the Coulomb scattering mean free path and L is the plasma's characteristic half length. Divertors allow reduction of the electron-neutral collision frequency to values where the RMFo coupling indicates full penetration of the RMFo to the major axis.     

New method for polarization measurements of magnetic fields indense plasmas

Measurements of magnetic fields based on observations of the Zeeman splitting ω_B of spectral lines is a virtually impossible task in dense plasmas of powerful Z-pinches where the Stark splitting in the ion microfields ω_F is much greater than ω_B. In this situation, much better diagnostics of magnetic fields can be achieved through polarization difference contours obtained by subtracting profiles of the same spectral line observed in two orthogonal linear polarizations. In this way the obscuring role of the Stark effect is significantly diminished. In the present paper it is shown that the most sensitive and accurate measurements of the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field in a dense plasma can be conducted employing central Stark components of hydrogen or hydrogen-like spectral lines. The polarization contour of a central Stark component turned out to be much more sensitive to the magnetic field than the polarization contour of a lateral component of the same line, namely by a factor of (ω_F/ω_B) ³≫1. This constitutes a drastic enhancement of the previously suggested method that had used the polarization contour of a lateral Stark component because in dense plasmas a typical value of the above factor is (ω_F/ω_B)³⩾10³ . The new method can also be used for laser fusion plasmas and for some astrophysical objects such as magnetic white dwarfs     

Diffusion of excitons and electron-hole drops in germanium

Diffusion of excitons and electron-hole drops is investigated in pure germanium, using a time-resolved cyclotron resonance method. The diffusion coefficient of excitons at 4.2 K is obtained to be ≈ 1000 cm²/sec. For electron-hole drops, when excitation is not so high, it is expected to be lower than ≈ 500 cm²/sec at 1.6 K.     

Ordered structure formation in 2D mass asymmetric electron-hole plasmas

We study strong Coulomb correlations in dense two-dimensional electron-hole plasmas by means of direct path integral Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the formation and dissociation of bound states, such as excitons, bi-excitons and many particle clusters, is analyzed and the density-temperature regions of their occurrence are identified. At high density, the Mott transition to the fully ionized state (electron-hole hexatic liquid) is detected. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the hole to electron mass ratio M on the properties of the plasma. For high enough values of M we observed the formation of Coulomb hole crystal-like structures.     

Thermodynamics of ionization and dissociation in hydrogen plasmas including fluctuations and magnetic fields

Applying Gibb's geometrical methods to the thermodynamics of H-plasmas we explore the landscape of the free energy as a function of the degrees of ionization and dissociation. Several approximations for the free energy are discussed. We show that in the region of partial ionization/dissociation the quantum Debye-Hückel approximation (QDHA) yields a rather good but still simple representation which allows to include magnetic field and fluctuation effects. By using relations of Onsager-Landau-type the probability of fluctuations and ionization/dissociation processes are described. We show that the degrees of ionization/dissociation are probabilistic quantities which are subject to a relatively large dispersion. Magnetic field effects are studied. Received 10 September 2002 / Received in final form 26 November 2002 Published online 11 February 2003