Abstract
Excitonic superradiance has been predicted to induce a rapid decay rate of coherently excited excitons in thin quantum wells and microspheres. In this paper we revisit this problem and derive the enhancement factor of the radiative decay due to superradiant effects. In a GaAs quantum well, the excitonic superradiant radiative decay can be roughly 320 times faster than the decay of a free electron-hole pair. The exciton decay rate depends strongly on the lateral size of the wave function when the size is smaller than the inverse of the wave vector of the emitted light. In a GaAs quantum well this corresponds to a distance of 365. Therefore, it is predicted that localization and elastic phonon scattering may lead to decay rates substantially smaller than that predicted for an ideal quantum well. It is also shown that if the quantum well is placed inside a microcavity, the decay rate can be enhanced even further since the cavity modifies the available density of radiation states in a way that matches the superradiant emission. It is predicted that in a matched dielectric cavity the decay rate can be enhanced by an additional factor of 100, but that inhomogeneous broadening may in practice limit the possible enhancement.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 17336-17348 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 23 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1994 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics
Cite this
Wannier exciton superradiance in a quantum-well microcavity. / Björk, Gunnar; Pau, Stanley K H; Jacobson, Joseph; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa.
In: Physical Review B, Vol. 50, No. 23, 1994, p. 17336-17348.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Wannier exciton superradiance in a quantum-well microcavity
AU - Björk, Gunnar
AU - Pau, Stanley K H
AU - Jacobson, Joseph
AU - Yamamoto, Yoshihisa
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - Excitonic superradiance has been predicted to induce a rapid decay rate of coherently excited excitons in thin quantum wells and microspheres. In this paper we revisit this problem and derive the enhancement factor of the radiative decay due to superradiant effects. In a GaAs quantum well, the excitonic superradiant radiative decay can be roughly 320 times faster than the decay of a free electron-hole pair. The exciton decay rate depends strongly on the lateral size of the wave function when the size is smaller than the inverse of the wave vector of the emitted light. In a GaAs quantum well this corresponds to a distance of 365. Therefore, it is predicted that localization and elastic phonon scattering may lead to decay rates substantially smaller than that predicted for an ideal quantum well. It is also shown that if the quantum well is placed inside a microcavity, the decay rate can be enhanced even further since the cavity modifies the available density of radiation states in a way that matches the superradiant emission. It is predicted that in a matched dielectric cavity the decay rate can be enhanced by an additional factor of 100, but that inhomogeneous broadening may in practice limit the possible enhancement.
AB - Excitonic superradiance has been predicted to induce a rapid decay rate of coherently excited excitons in thin quantum wells and microspheres. In this paper we revisit this problem and derive the enhancement factor of the radiative decay due to superradiant effects. In a GaAs quantum well, the excitonic superradiant radiative decay can be roughly 320 times faster than the decay of a free electron-hole pair. The exciton decay rate depends strongly on the lateral size of the wave function when the size is smaller than the inverse of the wave vector of the emitted light. In a GaAs quantum well this corresponds to a distance of 365. Therefore, it is predicted that localization and elastic phonon scattering may lead to decay rates substantially smaller than that predicted for an ideal quantum well. It is also shown that if the quantum well is placed inside a microcavity, the decay rate can be enhanced even further since the cavity modifies the available density of radiation states in a way that matches the superradiant emission. It is predicted that in a matched dielectric cavity the decay rate can be enhanced by an additional factor of 100, but that inhomogeneous broadening may in practice limit the possible enhancement.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0000440539&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.50.17336
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.50.17336
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000440539
VL - 50
SP - 17336
EP - 17348
JO - Physical Review B-Condensed Matter
JF - Physical Review B-Condensed Matter
SN - 0163-1829
IS - 23
ER -