Stress Dependence of Exciton Relaxation Processes in Cu2O

A comprehensive study of the exciton relaxation processes in Cu2O has led to some surprises. We find that the ortho-para conversion rate becomes slower at high stress, and that the Auger nonradiative recombination rate increases with stress, with apparently no Auger recombination at zero stress. These results have important consequences for the pursuit of Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in a harmonic potential.Comment: 10 figures, 1 tabl

Auger decay, Spin-exchange, and their connection to Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in Cu_2O

In view of the recent experiments of O'Hara, et al. on excitons in Cu_2O, we examine the interconversion between the angular-momentum triplet-state excitons and the angular-momentum singlet-state excitons by a spin-exchange process which has been overlooked in the past. We estimate the rate of this particle-conserving mechanism and find a substantially higher value than the Auger process considered so far. Based on this idea, we give a possible explanation of the recent experimental observations, and make certain predictions, with the most important being that the singlet-state excitons in Cu_2O is a very serious candidate for exhibiting the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 1 ps figur

Thermal history of a metamorphic core complex

Fission track (FT) thermochronology studies of lower plate rocks of the Ruby Mountains-East Humbolt Range metamorphic core complex provide important constraints on the timing an nature of major middle Tertiary extension of northeast Nevada. Rocks analyzed include several varieties of mylonitic orthogneiss as well as amphibolitic orthognesses from the non-mylonitic infrastructural core. Oligocene-age porphyritic biotite granodiorite of the Harrison Pass pluton was also studied. The minerals dated include apatite, zircon, and sphene and were obtained from the same rocks that have been previously studied. FT ages are concordant and range in age from 26.4 Ma to 23.8 Ma, with all showing overlap at 1 sigma between 25.4 to 23.4 Ma. Concordancy of all FT ages from all structural levels indicates that the lower plate cooled rapidly from temperatures above approx. 285 C (assumed sphene closure temperature (2)) to below approx. 150 C (assumed apatite closure temperature) near the beginning of the Miocene. This suggests that the lower plate cooled at a rate of at least approx. 36 deg C/Ma during this event. Rapid cooling of the region is considered to reflect large-scale tectonic denudation (intracrustal thinning), the vertical complement to intense crustal extension. FT data firmly establish the upper limit on the timing of mylonitization during detachment faulting and also coincide with the age of extensive landscape disruption

Theory of Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity of two-dimensional polaritons in an in-plane harmonic potential

Recent experiments have shown that it is possible to create an in-plane harmonic potential trap for a two-dimensional (2D) gas of exciton-polaritons in a microcavity structure, and evidence has been reported of Bose-Einstein condensation of polaritons accumulated in this type of trap. We present here the theory of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and superfluidity of the exciton polaritons in a harmonic potential trap. Along the way, we determine a general method for defining the superfluid fraction in a 2D trap, in terms of angular momentum representation. We show that in the continuum limit, as the trap becomes shallower the superfluid fraction approaches the 2D Kosterlitz-Thouless limit, while the condensate fraction approaches zero, as expected.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication by Physical review

Quantum saturation and condensation of excitons in Cu2_2O: a theoretical study

Recent experiments on high density excitons in Cu$_2$O provide evidence for degenerate quantum statistics and Bose-Einstein condensation of this nearly ideal gas. We model the time dependence of this bosonic system including exciton decay mechanisms, energy exchange with phonons, and interconversion between ortho (triplet-state) and para (singlet-state) excitons, using parameters for the excitonic decay, the coupling to acoustic and low-lying optical phonons, Auger recombination, and ortho-para interconversion derived from experiment. The single adjustable parameter in our model is the optical-phonon cooling rate for Auger and laser-produced hot excitons. We show that the orthoexcitons move along the phase boundary without crossing it (i.e., exhibit a ``quantum saturation''), as a consequence of the balance of entropy changes due to cooling of excitons by phonons and heating by the non-radiative Auger two-exciton recombination process. The Auger annihilation rate for para-para collisions is much smaller than that for ortho-para and ortho-ortho collisions, explaining why, under the given experimental conditions, the paraexcitons condense while the orthoexcitons fail to do so.Comment: Revised to improve clarity and physical content 18 pages, revtex, figures available from G. Kavoulakis, Physics Department, University of Illinois, Urban

Superlinear Increase of Photocurrent due to Stimulated Scattering into a Polariton Condensate

We show that when a monopolar current is passed through an n-i-n structure, superlinear photocurrent response occurs when there is a polariton condensate. This is in sharp contrast to the previously observed behavior for a standard semiconductor laser. Theoretical modeling shows that this is due to a stimulated exciton-exciton scattering process in which one exciton relaxes into the condensate, while another one dissociates into an electron-hole pair.Comment: 17 pages with 10 figure

Long exciton spin memory in coupled quantum wells

Spatially indirect excitons in a coupled quantum well structure were studied by means of polarization and time resolved photoluminescence. A strong degree of circular polarization (> 50%) in emission was achieved when the excitation energy was tuned into resonance with the direct exciton state. The indirect transition remained polarized several tens of nanoseconds after the pumping laser pulse, demonstrating directly a very long relaxation time of exciton spin. The observed spin memory effect exceeds the radiative lifetime of the indirect excitons.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Spin flip from dark to bright states in InP quantum dots

We report measurements of the time for spin flip from dark (non-light emitting) exciton states in quantum dots to bright (light emitting) exciton states in InP quantum dots. Dark excitons are created by two-photon excitation by an ultrafast laser. The time for spin flip between dark and bright states is found to be approximately 200 ps, independent of density and temperature below 70 K. This is much shorter than observed in other quantum dot systems. The rate of decay of the luminescence intensity, approximately 300 ps, is not simply equal to the radiative decay rate from the bright states, because the rate of decay is limited by the rate of conversion from dark excitons into bright excitons. The dependence of the luminescence decay time on the spin flip time is a general effect that applies to many experiments.Comment: 3 figure