We present a microscopic theory of bipolar quantum well structures in the
photovoltaic regime, based on the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism
for a multi band tight binding Hamiltonian. The quantum kinetic equations for
the single particle Green's functions of electrons and holes are
self-consistently coupled to Poisson's equation, including inter-carrier
scattering on the Hartree level. Relaxation and broadening mechanisms are
considered by the inclusion of acoustic and optical electron-phonon interaction
in a self consistent Born approximation of the scattering self energies.
Photogeneration of carriers is described on the same level in terms of a self
energy derived from the standard dipole approximation of the electron-photon
interaction. Results from a simple two band model are shown for the local
density of states, spectral response, current spectrum, and current-voltage
characteristics for generic single quantum well systems.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; corrected typos, changed caption Fig. 1,
replaced Fig.