Electron-hole correlation effects in the emission of light from quantum wires

We present a self-consistent treatment of the electron-hole correlations in optically excited quantum wires within the ladder approximation, and using a contact potential interaction. The limitations of the ladder approximation to the excitonic low-density region are largely overcome by the introduction of higher order correlations through self consistency. We show relevance of these correlations in the low-temperature emission, even for high density relevant in lasing, when large gain replaces excitonic absorption.Comment: 4 paes 3 figure

Role of bound pairs in the optical properties of highly excited semiconductors: a self consistent ladder approximation approach

Presence of bound pairs (excitons) in a low-temperature electron-hole plasma is accounted for by including correlation between fermions at the ladder level. Using a simplified one-dimensional model with on-site Coulomb interaction, we calculate the one-particle self-energies, chemical potential, and optical response. The results are compared to those obtained in the Born approximation, which does not account for bound pairs. In the self-consistent ladder approximation the self-energy and spectral function show a characteristic correlation peak at the exciton energy for low temperature and density. In this regime the Born approximation overestimates the chemical potential. Provided the appropriate vertex correction in the interaction with the photon is included, both ladder and Born approximations reproduce the excitonic and free pair optical absorption at low density, and the disappearance of the exciton absorption peak at larger density. However, lineshapes and energy shifts with density of the absorption and photoluminescence peaks are drastically different. In particular, the photoluminescence emission peak is much more stable in the ladder approximation. At low temperature and density a sizeable optical gain is produced in both approximations just below the excitonic peak, however this gain shows unphysical features in the Born approximation. We conclude that at low density and temperature it is fundamental to take into account the existence of bound pairs in the electron-hole plasma for the calculation of its optical and thermodynamic properties. Other approximations that fail to do so are intrinsically unphysical in this regime, and for example are not suitable to address the problem of excitonic lasing.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Gain in a quantum wire laser of high uniformity

A multi-quantum wire laser operating in the 1-D ground state has been achieved in a very high uniformity structure that shows free exciton emission with unprecedented narrow width and low lasing threshold. Under optical pumping the spontaneous emission evolves from a sharp free exciton peak to a red-shifted broad band. The lasing photon energy occurs about 5 meV below the free exciton. The observed shift excludes free excitons in lasing and our results show that Coulomb interactions in the 1-D electron-hole system shift the spontaneous emission and play significant roles in laser gain.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, prepared by RevTe

Mott transition from a diluted exciton gas to a dense electron-hole plasma in a single V-shaped quantum wire

We report on the study of many-body interactions in a single high quality V-shaped quantum wire by means of continuous and time-resolved microphotoluminescence. The transition from a weakly interacting exciton gas when the carrier density n is less than 10^5 cm^-1 (i.e. n aX < 0.1, with aX the exciton Bohr radius), to a dense electron-hole plasma (n > 10^6 cm^-1, i.e. n aX > 1) is systematically followed in the system as the carrier density is increased. We show that this transition occurs gradually : the free carriers first coexist with excitons for n aX > 0.1, then the electron-hole plasma becomes degenerate at n aX = 0.8. We also show that the non-linear effects are strongly related to the kind of disorder and localization properties in the structure especially in the low density regime.Comment: 5 figure

Photoluminescence study of V-groove quantum wires: The influence of disorder on the optical spectra and the carrier thermalization

We report on time-resolved and steady-state photoluminescence studies of GaAs/AlGaAs V-groove quantum wire structures. Steady-state photoluminescence experiments are performed in the temperature range from 8 to 200 It. We evaluate the relation between photoluminescence excitation and absorption and determine experimentally the optical density in order to analyze the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence spectra. We find that, at a temperature above 60 K, the photoexcited electron-hole pairs reach a thermal equilibrium at the lattice temperature while, at a temperature below about 60 K, they do not reach a quasi-equilibrium in the steady-state. Time-resolved photoluminescence studies performed at a carrier density of about 2 x 10(4) cm(-1) indicate that, at 60 K, a quasi-equilibrium is reached on a time scale of 10 ps. Furthermore, the hot carriers cool in about 100 ps to the lattice temperature. At 8 K, however, evidence of a non-thermal carrier distribution is found at the earliest times, which suggests that carriers in extended states are not in thermal equilibrium with carriers in localized states

Intrasubband and intersubband scattering in semiconductor quantum wires

We have performed low-density (< 10(5) cm(-1)) time-resolved photoluminescence experiments that probe the relaxation of photo-excited carriers in a quantum wire. Our results show that carrier-carrier collisions are dominant at very short times both for intra- and for inter-subband scattering as only expected if non-Markovian effects are taken into account. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Excitonic corrections and band gap renormalization in quantum wires

We present a theoretical analysis of experimental photoluminescence spectra in highly excited semiconductor quantum wires. We show that the inclusion in the theory of electron-hole correlations strongly modifies the shape of emission spectra at any density. We discuss the role of these correlations in the evaluation of the band gap renormalization. The calculated energy- and density-dependence of the broadening agree qualitatively with the experimental results. The broadening is also comparable in magnitude to the band gap renormalization, implying the relevance of a combined self-consistent calculation of the two. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved