Abstract
The rate of generation of electron-hole pairs by intense light is calculated within a three-band model of an insulator including a valence band v and conduction bands c and c 1. It is assumed that the photon energy ħω is small in comparison with the band gap E g and generation occurs due to the transitions involving free electrons in the upper conduction band c 1. It is shown that, at a light intensity j ∼ 1011 W/cm2 and an electron concentration in the c 1 band exceeding 1017 cm−3, the rates of the transitions c 1 +l ħω → ccv (l = 2 or 3) exceed the rates of direct five-photon transitions between the v and the c bands. In this case, a multiphoton avalanche can be initiated.
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