Exciton molecules and exciton liquids in semiconductors

Excitons in many-valley semiconductors form molecules consisting of four and more excitons. The degeneracy factor g of the conduction band in germanium is 8, and in silicon g=12. As in acceptors, the hole ground state in excitons is fourfold degenerate. The same is valid for exciton molecules, because they are quantum objects with spherical symmetry. The exciton binding energy in molecules is close to that in exciton-liquid droplets. Experimental evidence is considered for the existence, besides biexcitons, of stable exciton molecules consisting of three and four, and, possibly, 11 and 12 excitons. Molecules containing from five to ten excitons are apparently unstable. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 929–931 (May 1998)     

The Exciton–Polariton Dispersion Law under the Action of Strong Pumping in the Region of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>-Band of Luminescence

The double-pulse interaction with excitons and biexcitons in semiconductors is studied theoretically. It is shown that the dispersion law of carrier wave has three branches under the action of a powerful pumping in the region of the M-band of luminescence. Values of parameters at which the dispersion law branches can intersect due to the degeneration of the exciton level energy have been found. The effect of a significant change in the force of coupling between the exciton and photon of a weak pulse with a change in the pumping intensity is predicted.     

Energy Transfer and Trapping in Rigid Solutions of Aromatic Polymers

Energy transfer by excitons is now well established in films and solutions of aromatic polymers. Excitons in disordered systems can be considered as electronically excited states, which are transferred between the light absorbing groups in a random hopping process (the same is true in molecular crystals if, because of thermal vibrations, the coherence length of the exciton waves approaches the lattice constant and consequently the band model of the excitons breaks down).     

Modulation spectroscopy under uniaxial stress

During the past several years the combination of modulation spectroscopy and static uniaxial stress has been developed into a powerful tool for the investigation of the relationship between the optical properties of semiconductors and their electronic energy bands. Studies of the stress-induced splittings and shifts of energy levels and oscillator strengths as well as the dependence of the induced fine structure on polarization direction and strain configuration have produced a wealth of information concerning the intrinsic properties of the undeformed crystal such as symmetries of interband optical transitions, deformation potentials, spin-exchange interaction of excitons, etc. Symmetry assignments are of considerable value for comparison with band structure calculations while the latter parameters are of significance for comparison with theories based on model calculations and systematic trends such as ionicity. This paper will review experiments and theories dealing with the effects of static uniaxial stress on those optical properties of semiconductors related to the intrinsic properties of the material with special emphasis on the modulated optical spectra.     

Observation of excitons in one-dimensional metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes

Excitons are generally believed not to exist in metals because of strong screening by free carriers. Here we demonstrate that excitonic states can in fact be produced in metallic systems of a one-dimensional character. Using metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes as a model system, we show both experimentally and theoretically that electron-hole pairs form tightly bound excitons. The exciton binding energy of 50 meV, deduced from optical absorption spectra of individual metallic nanotubes, significantly exceeds that of excitons in most bulk semiconductors and agrees well with ab initio theoretical predictions.     

II-VI族稀磁半导体微纳结构中的激子磁极化子及其发光

自旋是基本粒子（电子、光子）角动量的内在形式.固体中体现自旋特征的集体电子行为如拓扑绝缘体等是当前凝聚态物理领域关注的焦点,是基态行为.激子作为电子空穴对的激发态且寿命很短,可复合发光,它是否能体现自旋极化主导的行为?对此人们的认识远不如针对基态的电子.激子磁极化子（exciton magnetic polaron,EMP）是由磁性半导体微结构中铁磁自旋耦合态与自由激子相互作用形成的复合元激发,但其研究很有限.本文概述了我们在稀磁半导体微纳米结构中的EMP及其发光动态学光谱、自旋极化激子凝聚态的形成方面取得的一些进展,展望了未来可能在自旋光电子器件、磁控激光、光致磁性等量子技术方面的潜在应用.     

Photo-induced magnetic polarons in semiconductors

Exciton magnetic polarons observed in dilute magnetic semiconductors were investigated by steady-state and pico-second time-resolved photoluminescence measurements and have shown characteristic behavior of exciton localization processes in bulk-Cd_1-x Mn _x Te and also in the quantum structures composed of the dilute magnetic semiconductors. For the quantum structures spin-dependent coherent polarizations associated with excitons and biexcitons were studied by degenerate four-wave mixing experiment. Also investigated for different chalcogenide spinel ferromagnetic semiconductors was photo-induced enhancement of exchange interaction between magnetic ions by direct magnetic flux detection in the vicinity of the Curie temperatures.     

Excitons in GaAs quantum wells

This paper attempts to summarize some of the salient properties of excitons in GaAs quantum wells and in doing so it will emphasize work at AT&T Bell Labs with which the authors have been associated. Although the text relies heavily on published material, an effort has been made to stress new material, and where feasible, unpublished aspects, e.g., figures, related to earlier work. Topics discussed on the quasi-2D excitons in GaAs quantum well include: their inherent tendency for intrinsic free-exciton emission, exciton binding energies, bound and localized excitons including biexcitons and excitons bound to neutral impurities, effects of n- and p-type modulation and antimodulation doping, and the developments leading to a proposed set of quantum well parameters that results in acceptable fits to the observed exciton transitions for GaAs quantum wells with both square and parabolic potential profiles.     

Superfluidity of indirect biexcitons in superlattices

Instability in a system of interacting quasi-two-dimensional excitons in a type II superlattice of a finite thickness due to attraction between oppositely-directed excitonic dipoles in neighboring layers has been discovered. A stable system is that of indirect quasi-two-dimensional biexcitons formed by indirect excitons with dipole moments oriented in opposite directions. The radius and binding energy of indirect biexcitons has been calculated. A collective spectrum of a system of such biexcitons with a weak quadrupole interaction between them has been studied. Feasibility of Bose condensation, the density n _s(T) of the superfluid component, and a phase transition to the superfliud state in a low-density system of indirect biexcitons have been analyzed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 1786–1798 (May 1999)     

Bose-Einstein condensation in semiconductors: the key role of dark excitons

Bose-Einstein condensation in semiconductors is controlled by the nonelementary-boson nature of excitons. Pauli exclusion between the fermionic components of composite excitons produces dramatic exchange couplings between bright and dark states. In microcavities, where bright excitons and photons form polaritons, they force the condensate to be linearly polarized, as observed. In bulk, they also force linear polarization, but of dark states, due to interband Coulomb scatterings. To evidence this dark condensate, indirect processes are thus needed.     

Dispersion and instability of electromagnetic waves in layered periodic semiconductor structures

The effect of carrier drift on the dispersive properties and instability of electromagnetic waves and plasma polaritons in infinite layered periodic semiconductors are considered. It is assumed that in similar semiconductor layers, carriers drift parallel to the interfaces. Drift waves are shown to have a specific band structure of the spectrum. The dispersive properties of collective plasma polaritons under drift are considered, the instability of the polaritons and drift waves is studied, and the instability increments are determined.     

Energy relaxation of excitonlike polaritons in semiconductor microcavities: Effect on the parametric scattering of polaritons

Polariton emission in GaAs-based microcavities has been studied under variable conditions, which made it possible to excite (a) polaritons from the upper polariton branch and hot free polaritons and electrons, (b) polaritons from the lower polariton branch (LPB) and localized excitons, and (c) the mixed system. Variation of the excitation conditions leads to substantial differences in the energy distributions of polaritons and in the temperature dependences of polariton emission. It is established that the energy relaxation of resonantly excited LPB polaritons via polariton and localized exciton states at liquid helium temperatures is ineffective. Instead, the relaxation bottleneck effect is suppressed with increasing temperature by means of exciton delocalization (due to thermal excitation by phonons). The most effective mechanism of relaxation to the LPB bottom is via scattering of delocalized excitons on hot free carriers. It is found that the slow energy relaxation of polaritons excited below the free exciton energy can be significantly accelerated at low temperatures by means of additional weak generation of hot excitons and, especially, hot electrons. This acceleration of the energy relaxation of polaritons by means of additional overbarrier photoexcitation sharply decreases the barrier for stimulated parametric scattering of polaritons excited at an LPB inflection point. Therefore, additional illumination can be used to control the polariton-polariton scattering.     

Diamagnetic excitons in semiconductors (Review)

Optical properties of semiconductor crystals in the presence of a high magnetic field have been considered. The field turn-on gives rise to oscillations of the optical-absorption edge or, more specifically, the formation of a complex absorption spectrum with a periodic structure, referred to as the spectrum of “diamagnetic excitons.” Such spectra appear a source of the most accurate knowledge about the band structure of semiconductors. Moreover, these spectra can be used for simulating the low-dimensional state in semiconductors and possible interpretation of the emission spectra of neutron stars. The proposed analytical review is based on extensive experimental and theoretical data contained mostly in cited original works of the author with colleagues.     

The Lorenz attractor in a system of coherent excitons,photons and biexcitons

It has been shown that a system of equations describing the dynamic evolution of coherent excitons, photons and biexcitons has a strange attractor of Lorenz type. The conditions for the appearance of stochastic instability have been found and numerical estimations for the CdS crystal are presented.     

Optical properties of highly excited direct gap semiconductors

The electronic excitations in direct gap semiconductors interact strongly with the photon field. We discuss both the experimental and the theoretical aspects of the optical properties of these materials under strong optical excitation. We distinguish between intermediate excitation levels at which the electronic excitations form a dense system of excitons and excitonic molecules and very high excitation levels at which a degenerate electron-hole plasma occurs. The optical spectra of dense excitonic systems, which are mainly observed in copper halides and II–VI compounds, are shown to be determined mainly by the interaction processes between excitonic molecules, polaritons and free carriers. The optical properties of the electron-hole plasma, which has been observed in II–VI and especially in III–V compounds, can be understood only by taking into account many-body effects, such as dynamical screening of the Coulomb interactions, plasmon-assisted transitions and excitonic enhancement.     

基于磁圆二向色谱的单层MoS_2激子能量和线宽温度依赖特性

以二硫化钼(MoS_2)为代表的过渡金属硫属化物属于二维层状材料,样品可以薄至单层.单层MoS_2是一种直接带隙半导体,在纳米逻辑器件、高速光电探测、纳米激光等领域具有广阔的应用前景.在实际应用中,温度是影响半导体材料能带结构和性质的主要因素之一.因此研究单层二维材料能带的温度依赖特性对理解其物理机理以及开展器件应用具有重要的意义.目前,在广泛采用的测量单层MoS_2反射谱的研究中,激子峰往往叠加在一个很强的光谱背底上,难以准确分辨激子的峰位和线宽.基于自行搭建的显微磁圆二向色谱系统,研究了单层MoS_2在65—300 K温度范围内的反射谱和磁圆二向色谱,结果表明磁圆二向色谱在研究单层材料激子能量和线宽方面具有明显的优势.通过分析变温的磁圆二向色谱,得到了不同温度下的A,B激子的跃迁能量和线宽.通过对激子能量和线宽的温度依赖关系进行拟合,进一步讨论了声子散射对激子线宽的影响.     

Nonlinear time-independent and time-dependent propagation of light in direct-gap semiconductors with paired excitons bound into biexcitons

We study a new class of nonlinear cooperative phenomena that occur when light propagates in direct-gap semiconductors. The nonlinearity here is due to a process, first discussed by A. L. Ivanov, L. V. Keldysh, and V. V. Panashchenko, in which two excitons are bound into a biexciton by virtue of their Coulomb interaction. For the geometry of a ring cavity, we derive a system of nonlinear differential equations describing the dynamical evolution of coherent excitons, photons, and biexcitons. For the time-independent case we arrive at the equation of state of optical bistability theory, and this equation is found to differ considerably from the equations of state in the two-level atom model and in the exciton region of the spectrum. We examine the stability of the steady states and determine the switchover times between the optical bistability branches. We also show that in the unstable sections of the equation of state, nonlinear periodic and chaotic self-pulsations may arise, with limit cycles and strange attractors being created in the phase space of the system. The scenario for the transition to the dynamical chaos mode is found. A computer experiment is used to study the dynamic optical bistability. Finally, we discuss the possibility of detecting these phenomena in experiments. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1778–1790 (November 1997)     

Enhancement of the Coulomb correlations in type-II quantum dots

We report on calculation of binding energies of excitons as well as positively and negatively charged excitons and biexcitons in type-II quantum dots. The shape of the GaSb/GaAs quantum dot is assumed lens-like and the energies are calculated within the Hartree–Fock approximation. A large enhancement of the binding energies has been estimated in comparison with the type-I quantum dots (InAs/GaAs) which is in good agreement with the recent experimental findings.     

Conduction electron-exciton complexes in semiconductor single crystals

We consider the possibility of a bound state being formed from the pairing of an excited electron in the conduction band with an exciton in a semiconductor at low temperatures. The model consists of two levels (the valence and conduction bands) for a simple cubic lattice with periodic boundary conditions and the exciton is intermediate between the Wannier and Frenkel type excitons. The exciton which is discussed consistst of a tightly bound electron from the conduction band and a hole from the valence band on the same lattice site. Electrons and holes are, however, allowed to hop independently between nearest-neighbour lattice sites. The dispersion relations which determine the exciton and the electron-exciton modes are solved numerically. It is found that there are two branches for the coupled mode frequencies. This physical picture is analogous to that for polaritons and magnon-phonon modes in crystals.     

Kinematic quasi-vacancy Frenkel biexciton in a Davydov multiplet

This paper shows that, as a consequence of paulion-type Frenkel excitons in molecular crystals such as anthracene, with several molecules per unit cell, bound biexcitons exist in the absence of dynamic exciton-exciton attraction. The coupling of excitons in ideal crystals of this type is brought about by the same kinematic effect that causes excitons in nonideal crystals to be localized close to defects such as vacancies. In the excitation spectrum, the resonance peak of the resulting biexciton is found inside a band corresponding to the sum of the energies of excitons of unlike components of a Davydov doublet, located between the bands of the total energies of excitons of the like components of the doublet. The corresponding dispersion equation is obtained, and the energy and wave function of the biexciton is determined. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 423–428 (March 1999)