194 research outputs found
The thermoelectric working fluid: thermodynamics and transport
Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or
refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The
thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically
quite low, but much effort continues to be devoted to the design of new
materials boasting improved transport properties that would make them of the
electron crystal-phonon glass type of systems. On the other hand, there are
comparatively few studies where a proper thermodynamic treatment of the
electronic working fluid is proposed. The present article aims to contribute to
bridge this gap by addressing both the thermodynamic and transport properties
of the thermoelectric working fluid covering a variety of models, including
interacting systems.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Photon emission induced by elastic exciton--carrier scattering in semiconductor quantum wells
We present a study of the elastic exciton--electron () and
exciton--hole () scattering processes in semiconductor quantum wells,
including fermion exchange effects. The balance between the exciton and the
free carrier populations within the electron-hole plasma is discussed in terms
of ionization degree in the nondegenerate regime. Assuming a two-dimensional
Coulomb potential statically screened by the free carrier gas, we apply the
variable phase method to obtain the excitonic wavefunctions, which we use to
calculate the 1 exciton--free carrier matrix elements that describe the
scattering of excitons into the light cone where they can radiatively
recombine. The photon emission rates due to the carrier-assisted exciton
recombination in semiconductor quantum-wells (QWs) at room temperature and in a
low density regime are obtained from Fermi's golden rule, and studied for
mid-gap and wide-gap materials. The quantitative comparison of the direct and
exchange terms of the scattering matrix elements shows that fermion exchange is
the dominant mechanism of the exciton--carrier scattering process. This is
confirmed by our analysis of the rates of photon emission induced by
electron-assisted and hole-assisted exciton recombinations.Comment: Thoroughly revised version of previous work. Weak and incorrect
assumptions have been removed from the paper, and its scope has evolved: see
abstract. This is the final version, i.e. as accepted for publication in the
European Physical Journal
Closed-loop approach to thermodynamics
We present the closed loop approach to linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics
considering a generic heat engine dissipatively connected to two temperature
baths. The system is usually quite generally characterized by two parameters:
the output power and the conversion efficiency , to which we add a
third one, the working frequency . We establish that a detailed
understanding of the effects of the dissipative coupling on the energy
conversion process, necessitates the knowledge of only two quantities: the
system's feedback factor and its open-loop gain , the product of
which, , characterizes the interplay between the efficiency, the
output power and the operating rate of the system. By placing thermodynamics
analysis on a higher level of abstraction, the feedback loop approach provides
a versatile and economical, hence a very efficient, tool for the study of
\emph{any} conversion engine operation for which a feedback factor may be
defined
Polariton-polariton scattering in microcavities: A microscopic theory
We apply the fermion commutation technique for composite bosons to
polariton-polariton scattering in semiconductor planar microcavities.
Derivations are presented in a simple and physically transparent fashion. A
procedure of orthogonolization of the initial and final two-exciton state
wavefunctions is used to calculate the effective scattering matrix elements and
the scattering rates. We show how the bosonic stimulation of the scattering
appears in this full fermionic approach whose equivalence to the bosonization
method is thus demonstrated in the regime of low exciton density. We find an
additional contribution to polariton-polariton scattering due to the exciton
oscillator strength saturation, which we analyze as well. We present a theory
of the polariton-polariton scattering with opposite spin orientations and show
that this scattering process takes place mainly via dark excitonic states.
Analytical estimations of the effective scattering amplitudes are given.Comment: Theoretical paper on polariton-polariton scattering in planar
microcavities. The new version contains a slightly modified abstract and a
revised introduction. Typos have been corrected wherever spotted. 16 page
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