Influence of Coulomb scattering on 1D laser-generated electron-hole plasmas driven by a strong DC field
Disciplines
Condensed Matter Physics | Optics | Plasma and Beam Physics
Abstract (300 words maximum)
One-dimensional quantum systems have a critical place in the future for understanding the dynamics of optoelectronic sensors containing semiconductor nanowires and nanowire arrays. It is commonly assumed that charged-particle collisions (referred to as Coulomb scattering) are not significant in predicting the behavior of laser-generated electron-hole plasmas in these nanowires. For low carrier energies we have confirmed this result. However, when a strong bias voltage is applied to the nanowire or an above-resonance high energy optical pulse, the models that account for Coulomb collisions diverge from the low energy predictions. We show the impact of these effects in simulations of 1D electron-hole plasmas in a GaAs nanowire using the fully fitted band-structure. We compare the results with and without Coulomb collisions and demonstrate the regimes where such corrections are not negligible. In this work we have included Coulomb collisions, but omitted many-body Coulomb dephasing of the quantum coherence between electron states. Because our results show regimes where the Coulomb collisions are not negligible, it is likely that dephasing will also be important in these regimes, should the nanowire be exposed to additional light.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CSM - Physics
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Jeremy Gulley
Influence of Coulomb scattering on 1D laser-generated electron-hole plasmas driven by a strong DC field
One-dimensional quantum systems have a critical place in the future for understanding the dynamics of optoelectronic sensors containing semiconductor nanowires and nanowire arrays. It is commonly assumed that charged-particle collisions (referred to as Coulomb scattering) are not significant in predicting the behavior of laser-generated electron-hole plasmas in these nanowires. For low carrier energies we have confirmed this result. However, when a strong bias voltage is applied to the nanowire or an above-resonance high energy optical pulse, the models that account for Coulomb collisions diverge from the low energy predictions. We show the impact of these effects in simulations of 1D electron-hole plasmas in a GaAs nanowire using the fully fitted band-structure. We compare the results with and without Coulomb collisions and demonstrate the regimes where such corrections are not negligible. In this work we have included Coulomb collisions, but omitted many-body Coulomb dephasing of the quantum coherence between electron states. Because our results show regimes where the Coulomb collisions are not negligible, it is likely that dephasing will also be important in these regimes, should the nanowire be exposed to additional light.