Bose-Einstein Condensation Of Excitons Research Articles

Exciting double bilayers

An excitonic Bose–Einstein condensate has so far been realized only in particular semiconductor heterostructure setups. Now, experiments show that such condensates can form in double graphene bilayers separated by hexagonal boron nitride.

Scattering amplitudes for dark and bright excitons

Using the composite boson many-body formalism that takes single-exciton states rather than free carrier states as a basis, we derive the integral equation fulfilled by the exciton-exciton effective scattering from which the role of fermion exchanges can be unraveled. For excitons made of -spin electrons and -spin holes, as in GaAs heterostructures, one major result is that most spin configurations lead to brightness-conserving scatterings with equal amplitude Δ, despite differences in the carrier exchanges involved. A brightness-changing channel also exists when two opposite-spin excitons scatter: dark excitons can end either in the same dark states with an amplitude , or in opposite-spin bright states , with a different amplitude , the number of carrier exchanges involved in these scatterings being even or odd, respectively. Another major result is that these amplitudes are linked by a striking relation, , which has decisive consequence on exciton Bose-Einstein condensation. By using Born values, we show that the exciton condensate can be optically observed through a bright part when excitons have large dipole only, that is, when the electrons and holes are in two well-separated layers, as in current experiments.

Exciton-polariton laser

We present a review of the investigations realized in the last decades of the phenomenon of the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in the system of two-dimensional cavity polaritons in semiconductor nanostructures. The conditions at which the excitons interacting with cavity photons form new type of quasiparticles named as polaritons are described. Since polaritons can form in a microcavity a weakly interacting Bose gas, similarly to the exciton gas in semiconductors, the microcavity exciton-polariton BEC emerged in the last decades as a new direction of the exciton BEC in solids, promising for practical applications. The high interest in BEC of exciton-polaritons in semiconductor microcavities is related to the ultra-low threshold lasing which has been demonstrated, in particular, for an electrically injected polariton laser based on bulk GaN microcavity diode working at room temperature.

Non-equilibrium Properties of a Pumped-Decaying Bose-Condensed Electron–Hole Gas in the BCS–BEC Crossover Region

We theoretically investigate a Bose-condensed exciton gas out of equilibrium. Within the framework of the combined BCS-Leggett strong-coupling theory with the non-equilibrium Keldysh formalism, we show how the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of excitons is suppressed to eventually disappear, when the system is in the non-equilibrium steady state. The supply of electrons and holes from the bath is shown to induce quasi-particle excitations, leading to the partial occupation of the upper branch of Bogoliubov single-particle excitation spectrum. We also discuss how this quasi-particle induction is related to the suppression of exciton BEC, as well as the stability of the steady state.

Heating by exciton and biexciton recombination in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

A comprehensive experimental investigation of exciton and biexciton recombination in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells is presented. Exciton and biexciton recombination times are found to be 16 and 55 ps, respectively. A method of determining the dynamics of the exciton temperature is developed. It is shown that both exciton and biexciton recombination processes increase the exciton temperature by an amount as high as $\ensuremath{\sim}10$ K. These processes impose a new restriction on the possibility of exciton Bose-Einstein condensation and make impossible its achievement in a system of direct excitons in GaAs quantum wells even for resonantly excited exciton gas.

Bose-Einstein Condensation of Excitons in Planar Systems and Superconductive Phase Transition Temperature

A theoretical model is developed for treating superconductive Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) effects for excitons in planar systems, under the condition that many excitons are included in a surface area, with the dimensions of the exciton center of mass de Broglie (dB) wavelength, and under the condition that attractive forces are introduced between different excitons. The total internal energy of the excitonic system is found to be composed of the separate exciton-positive energies and negative energy due to scattering between different excitons. We assume that for high density of excitons, and corresponding attractive interactions, excitons in internal mode k are annihilated and in the same time excitons in internal mode k ′ are created, where these scattering effects are integrated for all k and k ′ values. It is assumed that the internal momenta of the excited excitons remain in a quasi-stationary state, with approximately Bose distribution. Self-consistent equations for BEC of electron-hole pairs and corresponding phase transition temperature are developed as a function of electromagnetic interactions, experimental conditions, and parameters. Possible applications by the use of the present theory are described.

Rayleigh surface wave interaction with the 2D exciton Bose-Einstein condensate

We describe the interaction of a Rayleigh surface acoustic wave (SAW) traveling on the semiconductor substrate with the excitonic gas in a double quantum well located on the substrate surface. We study the SAW attenuation and its velocity renormalization due to the coupling to excitons. Both the deformation potential and piezoelectric mechanisms of the SAW-exciton interaction are considered. We focus on the frequency and excitonic density dependences of the SAW absorption coefficient and velocity renormalization at temperatures both above and well below the critical temperature of Bose-Einstein condensation of the excitonic gas. We demonstrate that the SAW attenuation and velocity renormalization are strongly different below and above the critical temperature.

Phase coherence and spectral functions in the two-dimensional excitonic systems

The nonlocal correlation mechanism between excitonic pairs is considered for a two dimensional exciton system. On the base of the unitary decomposition of the usual electron operator, we include the electron phase degrees of freedom into the problem of interacting excitons. Applying the path integral formalism, we treat the excitonic insulator state (EI) and the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of preformed excitonic pairs as two independent problems. For the BEC of excitons the phase field variables play a crucial role. We derive the expression of the local EI order parameter by integrating out the phase variables. Then, considering the zero temperature limit, we obtain the excitonic BEC transition probability function, by integrating out the fermions. We calculate the normal excitonic Green functions for the conduction and valence band electrons and we derive the excitonic spectral functions, both analytically and numerically. Different values of the Coulomb interaction parameter are considered.

Selective generation of ultracold high-density 1s orthoexcitons in Cu_2O with phase-modulated pulse using acousto-optic programmable filter

Ultracold and high-density 1s orthoexcitons in semiconductor cuprous oxide are prepared via resonant two-photon absorption of a phase-tailored femtosecond pulse, by utilizing an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter. The stability of the quantum degenerate exciton gas is studied using excitonic Lyman spectroscopy. A density of 10(16) cm(-3) is realized without creating hot carriers, and the Lyman spectrum remains unchanged at this density. This result assures the stability of a spontaneous Bose-Einstein condensate of excitons at sub-Kelvin temperatures.

Possibility for exciton Bose-Einstein condensation in carbon nanotubes

We demonstrate a possibility for exciton Bose-Einstein condensation in individual small-diameter (~1-2 nm) semiconducting carbon nanotubes. The effect occurs under the exciton-interband-plasmon coupling controlled by an external electrostatic field applied perpendicular to the nanotube axis. It requires fields ~1 V/nm and temperatures below 100 K that are experimentally accessible. The effect offers a testing ground for fundamentals of condensed matter physics in one dimension and opens up perspectives to develop tunable coherent polarized light source with carbon nanotubes.

Lifetime of quasiparticles in a hybrid electron-exciton system

The lifetimes (damping) of one-body and collective excitations in a hybrid system consisting of spatially separated layers of a two-dimensional electron gas and a gas of indirect excitons have been calculated at zero temperature in the presence of the Bose-Einstein condensate of excitons. It has been shown that the electron-exciton interaction leads to a considerable shortening of the lifetime of electrons as compared to the electron-electron interaction and to the appearance of a nonzero (linear in the wave vector) damping of plasmons. The interaction of the exciton Bose gas with the electron layer induces damping of Bogoliubov phonons in the exciton Bose gas, which is, however, much lower than their intrinsic (Belyaev) damping.

Erratum: Orthorhombic-to-monoclinic phase transition of Ta2NiSe5induced by the Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons [Phys. Rev. B87, 035121 (2013)

Erratum: Orthorhombic-to-monoclinic phase transition of Ta<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mrow /><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>NiSe<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mrow /><mml:mn>5</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>induced by the Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons [Phys. Rev. B<b>87</b>, 035121 (2013)

On nonlinear dynamics of a dipolar exciton BEC in two-layer graphene

The nonlinear dynamics of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of dipolar excitons in two-layer graphene is studied. It is demonstrated that a steady turbulent state is formed in this system. A comparison between the dynamics of the exciton BEC in two-layer graphene and those in GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum wells shows that turbulence is a general effect in a BEC.

Turbulence in a Bose-Einstein condensate of dipolar excitons in coupled quantum wells

The nonlinear dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of dipolar excitons trapped in an external confining potential in coupled quantum wells is analyzed. It is demonstrated that under typical experimental conditions the dipolar exciton BEC can be described by a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation with the local interaction between the excitons, which depends on the exciton distribution function. It is shown that, if the system is pumped at sufficiently high frequencies, a steady turbulent state can be formed.

Difference in Bose-Einstein condensation of conserved and unconserved particles

The peculiarities in the Bose-Einstein condensation of particles and quasiparticles are discussed. The difference between the condensation of conserved and unconserved particles is analyzed. A classification of quasiparticles is given. The emphasis is made on the ability of particles and quasiparticles to condense. Illustrations include: general Bose-condensed atomic systems, such as ensembles of trapped atoms, Bose gases with conserved and unconserved number of atoms, vibrating atoms in double-well lattices, Holstein-Primakoff magnons, Schwinger bosons, slave bosons, and the condensation of singletons and triplons. The basic difference is that the system of particles, whose total number is conserved, can form equilibrium as well as nonequilibrium condensates, while unconserved particles can condense only in a nonequilibrium system subject to external pumping supporting the density of these particles sufficient for their condensation. The examples of such a nonequilibrium condensation of unconserved particles are the Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons, polaritons, and photons. Elementary collective excitations, such as bogolons and phonons, being self-consistently defined, do not condense. Magnons cannot condense in equilibrium systems. Controversies, existing in literature with regard to the Bose-Einstein condensation of some quasiparticles, are explained. Pushing a system out of equilibrium may favor the condensation of unconserved quasiparticles, but suppresses the condensate fraction of conserved particles.

Bose-Einstein condensate of cavity exciton polaritons in a trap

The properties of traps for exciton polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity with an embedded quantum well have been considered. The behavior of the two-component Bose-Einstein condensate of photons and excitons described by the coupled system of Gross-Pitaevskii equations has been investigated. The analytical solutions for weak-confinement traps have been found in the Thomas-Fermi approximation. In the case of strong confinement, the behavior of the condensate has been investigated and constraints on the possible values of the chemical potential of the system have been obtained. The wavefunctions and generally different spatial profiles of the coupled photon and exciton condensates have been found.

Transition to a Bose–Einstein condensate and relaxation explosion of excitons at sub-Kelvin temperatures

Quasiparticles in quantum many-body systems have essential roles in modern physical problems. Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of excitons in semiconductors is one of the unobserved quantum statistical phenomena predicted in the photoexcited quasiparticles in many-body electrons. In particular, para-excitons in cuprous oxide have been studied for decades because the decoupling from the radiation field makes the coherent ensemble a purely matter-like wave. However, BEC has turned out to be hard to realize at superfluid liquid helium-4 temperatures due to a two-body inelastic collision process. It is therefore essential to set a lower critical density by further lowering the exciton temperature. Here we cool excitons to sub-Kelvin temperature and spatially confine them to realize the critical number for BEC. We show that BEC manifests itself as a relaxation explosion as has been discussed in atomic hydrogen. The results indicate that dilute excitons are purely bosonic and BEC indeed occurs.

Optical Traps for Dark Excitons

We propose a mechanism for optical trapping of dark excitons by linearly polarized unabsorbed standing waves, with a potential depth of the order of a few meV. Since this trapping, based on carrier exchanges with virtual excitons coupled to unabsorbed photons, equally acts on bright and dark states, Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons--which occurs in dark states--must appear as dark spots in a cloud of bright excitons, at the trap potential minima, when the temperature decreases.

Lasing behaviour from the condensation of polaronic excitons in a ZnO nanowire

Atoms under optical and magnetic trapping in a limited space at a very low temperature can lead to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), even in a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice. However, can the confinment of dense excitons in a 1D semiconductor microstructure easily reach the excitonic BEC? A lightly Mn(II)-doped ZnO nanowire under a femtosecond laser pulse pump at room temperature produces single-mode lasing from coherent bipolaronic excitons, which is much like a macroscopic quantum state due to the condensation of the bipoaronic excitons if not real BEC. In this process, longitudinal biphonon binding with the exciton plays an important role. We revisit this system and propose possibility of bipolaronic exciton condensation. More studies are needed for this condensation phenomenon in 1D microcavity systems.

Structural and Electronic Properties of Fluorographene

The structural and electronic characteristics of fluorinated graphene are investigated based on first-principles density-functional calculations. A detailed analysis of the energy order for stoichiometric fluorographene membranes indicates that there exists prominent chair and stirrup conformations, which correlate with the experimentally observed in-plane lattice expansion contrary to a contraction in graphane. The optical response of fluorographene is investigated using the GW-Bethe-Salpeter equation approach. The results are in good conformity with the experimentally observed optical gap and reveal predominant charge-transfer excitations arising from strong electron-hole interactions. The appearance of bounded excitons in the ultraviolet region can result in an excitonic Bose-Einstein condensate in fluorographene.