arXiv · cond-mat/9811245
Bose-Einstein statistics in thermalization and photoluminescence of quantum well excitons
Abstract
Quasi-equilibrium relaxational thermodynamics is developed to understand LA-phonon-assisted thermalization of Bose-Einstein distributed excitons in quantum wells. We study the quantum-statistical effects in the relaxational dynamics of the effective temperature of excitons $T = T(t)$. When $T$ is less than the degeneracy temperature $T_0$, well-developed Bose-Einstein statistics of quantum well excitons leads to nonexponential and density-dependent thermalization. At low bath temperatures $T_b \to 0$ the thermalization of quantum-statistically degenerate excitons effectively slows down and $T(t) \propto 1 / \ln t$. We also analyze the optical decay of Bose-Einstein distributed excitons in perfect quantum wells and show how nonclassical statistics influences the effective lifetime $τ_{opt}$. In particular, $τ_{opt}$ of a strongly degenerate gas of excitons is given by $2 τ_R$, where $τ_R$ is the intrinsic radiative lifetime of quasi-two-dimensional excitons. Kinetics of resonant photoluminescence of quantum well excitons during their thermalization is studied within the thermodynamic approach and taking into account Bose-Einstein statistics. We find density-dependent photoluminescence dynamics of statistically degenerate excitons. Numerical modeling of the thermalization and photoluminescence kinetics of quasi-two-dimensional excitons are given for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells.
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A. L. Ivanov, P. B. Littlewood, H. Haug. 1998-11-17. Bose-Einstein statistics in thermalization and photoluminescence of quantum well excitons. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.59.5032
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