Induced Bose–Einstein Condensation of Electron–Hole Pairs in a Highly Degenerate Semiconductor at Room Temperature

Abstract

The mechanism of condensation of electron–hole pairs in the phase space in a highly degenerate semiconductor involving resonant photons of the electromagnetic field is described and a simplified model of this phenomenon is developed. It is demonstrated that a quasi-stationary Bose–Einstein state of collectively paired electrons and holes can be formed in such a semiconductor in the presence of photons in the exciton part of the spectrum. In addition, the required carrier density must be several times higher than the threshold density for the appearance of laser radiation. The described effect allows explaining the appearance mechanism of a superradiant quantum transition and a nonequilibrium BCS-like electron–hole state in semiconductor heterostructures at room temperature, experimentally observed earlier.