Abstract
Transport of minority carriers in semiconductor plasmas can be strongly affected by electron-hole scattering. In high-mobility carrier systems not only the presence of one carrier type, but also its drift velocity determines the transport of the other carrier type via electron-hole scattering. This effect is known as “carrier drag”. In modulation-doped quantum well structures the carrier drag is strong enough to cause “negative absolute mobility” of both minority electrons and holes. In this paper we describe all-optical transport measurements, from which momentum relaxation times by electron-hole scattering are quantitatively determined. Extremely short scattering times result for minority electrons in a hole plasma (40 to 100 fs) in contrast to the reverse case of holes in an electron plasma (2–5 ps). The physical reasons (mass ratio, degeneracy, two-dimensionality) are discussed, as well as new phenomena as negative photoconductivity and plasma instabilities in the presence of strong electron-hole drag.
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