No Arabic abstract
We propose a novel mechanism for photogeneration of multiexcitons by single photons (carrier multiplication) in semiconductor nanocrystals. In this mechanism, the Coulomb interaction between two valence-band electrons involving their transfer to the conduction band creates a virtual biexciton from vacuum that is then converted into a real biexciton by photon absorption on an intraband optical transition. This mechanism is inactive in bulk semiconductors as momentum conservation suppresses intraband absorption. However, it becomes highly efficient in zero-dimensional nanocrystals and can provide a significant contribution to carrier multiplication in these materials.
We report a multiband transport study of bilayer graphene at high carrier densities. Employing a poly(ethylene)oxide-CsClO$_4$ solid polymer electrolyte gate we demonstrate the filling of the high energy subbands in bilayer graphene samples at carrier densities $|n|geq2.4times 10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$. We observe a sudden increase of resistance and the onset of a second family of Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) oscillations as these high energy subbands are populated. From simultaneous Hall and magnetoresistance measurements together with SdH oscillations in the multiband conduction regime, we deduce the carrier densities and mobilities for the higher energy bands separately and find the mobilities to be at least a factor of two higher than those in the low energy bands.
Although van der Waals layered transition metal dichalcogenides from transient absorption spectroscopy have successfully demonstrated an ideal carrier multiplication (CM) performance with an onset of nearly 2Eg,interpretation of the CM effect from the optical approach remains unresolved owing to the complexity of many-body electron-hole pairs. We demonstrate the CM effect through simple photocurrent measurements by fabricating the dual-gate P-N junction of a MoTe2 film on a transparent substrate. Electrons and holes were efficiently extracted by eliminating the Schottky barriers in the metal contact and minimizing multiple reflections. The photocurrent was elevated proportionately to the excitation energy. The boosted quantum efficiency confirms the multiple electron-hole pair generation of >2Eg, consistent with CM results from an optical approach, pushing the solar cell efficiency beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit.
We investigate generation of exchange magnons by ultrashort, picosecond acoustic pulses propagating through ferromagnetic thin films. Using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations we derive the dispersion relation for exchange magnons for an external magnetic field tilted with respect to the film normal. Decomposing the solution in a series of standing spin wave modes, we derive a system of ordinary differential equations and driven harmonic oscillator equations describing the dynamics of individual magnon mode. The external magnetoelastic driving force is given by the time-dependent spatial Fourier components of acoustic strain pulses inside the layer. Dependencies of the magnon excitation efficiencies on the duration of the acoustic pulses and the external magnetic field highlight the role of acoustic bandwidth and phonon-magnon phase matching. Our simulations for ferromagnetic nickel evidence the possibility of ultrafast magneto-acoustic excitation of exchange magnons within the bandwidth of acoustic pulses in thin samples under conditions readily obtained in femtosecond pump-probe experiments.
The remarkable gapless and linear band structure of graphene opens up new carrier relaxation channels bridging the valence and the conduction band. These Auger scattering processes change the number of charge carriers and can give rise to a significant multiplication of optically excited carriers in graphene. This is an ultrafast many-particle phenomenon that is of great interest both for fundamental many-particle physics as well as technological applications. Here, we review the research on carrier multiplication in graphene and Landau-quantized graphene including theoretical modelling and experimental demonstration.
Second harmonic generation (SHG) is a fundamental nonlinear optical phenomenon widely used both for experimental probes of materials and for application to optical devices. Even-order nonlinear optical responses including SHG generally require breaking of inversion symmetry, and thus have been utilized to study noncentrosymmetric materials. Here, we study theoretically the SHG in inversion-symmetric Dirac and Weyl semimetals under a DC current which breaks the inversion symmetry by creating a nonequilibrium steady state. Based on analytic and numerical calculations, we find that Dirac and Weyl semimetals exhibit strong SHG upon application of finite current. Our experimental estimation for a Dirac semimetal Cd$_3$As$_2$ and a magnetic Weyl semimetal Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$ suggests that the induced susceptibility $chi^{(2)}$ for practical applied current densities can reach $10^5~mathrm{pm}cdotmathrm{V}^{-1}$ with mid-IR or far-IR light. This value is 10$^2$-10$^4$ times larger than those of typical nonlinear optical materials. We also discuss experimental approaches to observe the current-induced SHG and comment on current-induced SHG in other topological semimetals in connection with recent experiments.