UNIT - III Light-Semiconductor

Interaction
Table of Contents
• Optical transitions in bulk semiconductors:
absorption, spontaneous emission, and
stimulated emission
• Joint density of states, Density of states for
photons
• Transition rates (Fermi's golden rule)
• Optical loss and gain
• Photovoltaic effect, Exciton
• Drude model
Optical transitions in bulk
semiconductors
Absorption • Spontaneous event in
which an atom or
molecule absorbs a
photon from an incident
optical field

• The asborption of the

photon causes the atom
or molecule to transition
to an excited state
Spontaneous Emission

• Statistical process (random phase) – emission by an

isolated atom or molecule

• Emission into 4π steradians

Stimulated Emission
E2

2hn
hn

E1
• Same phase as “stimulating” optical field

• Same polarization

• Same direction of propagation

Putting it all together…
• Assume that we have a two state system in equilibrium with a
blackbody radiation field.

E2

Spontaneous
emission Absorption

E1
Stimulated emission
Joint Density of States
In order to determine the probability or amplitude of the absorption we
must find the overlap of the initial and final wavefunctions.

Instead of single initial and final states in single-particle picture, we

have in principle a large density of final states - (k)

The probability of absorption or emission will depend on the overlap

and energy difference of the initial and final state, and the density of
these states.
 In quantum structures case
Choice of the wavefunctions for the initial and final states
Two different kinds of possibilities in quantum structure
Transitions between the valence and conduction bands
Transitions between the quantum-confined states within a given band,
so-called "intersubband“ transitions
E

E2 QW Barrier
C.B Barrier

E1
E2
e1-e2 ISBT
Probe
E1
Emission
Pump
Eg LHx HHx Eg

HH1
K||
HH1 LH1

V.B
LH1 Resonant optical transition
Photovoltaic effect
The photovoltaic effect is the creation of voltage and electric current
in a material upon exposure to light and is a physical and chemical
phenomenon.

The photovoltaic effect is closely related to the photoelectric effect.

In either case, light is absorbed, causing excitation of an electron or
other charge carrier to a higher-energy state. The main distinction is
that the term photoelectric effect is now usually used when the
electron is ejected out of the material (usually into a vacuum) and
photovoltaic effect used when the excited charge carrier is still
contained within the material. In either case, an electric potential (or
voltage) is produced by the separation of charges, and the light has to
have a sufficient energy to overcome the potential barrier for
excitation. The physical essence of the difference is usually that
photoelectric emission separates the charges by ballistic conduction
and photovoltaic emission separates them by diffusion, but some
"hot carrier" photovoltaic device concepts blur this distinction.
Excitonic Effect : Two particle (e-h) interaction 55
Absorption via Excitons
Electron-Hole interaction: Excitons
Classical Electron Model ( Lorentz Model)
Let the electric field of optical wave in an atom be
E=E0e-iwt
the electron obeys the following equation of motion
w0
X
m d 2 X  m d X  mw 0 X  eE
2 2
+ -
dt dt

X is the position of the electron relative to the atom E

m is the mass of the electron
w0 is the resonant frequency of the electron motion
 is the damping coefficient
Classical Electron Model ( Lorentz Model)
 eE 0
The solution is X e  iw t
m(w 0  w  iw )
2 2

The induced dipole moment is

2
p  eX  e E  E
m(w 0  w  iw )
2 2

 is atomic polarizability

2
 e
m(w 0  w 2  iw )
2

The dielectric constant of a medium depends on the manner in which the

atoms are assembled. Let N be the number of atoms per unit volume. Then
the polarization can be written approximately as

P = N p = N a E = e0 c E
Classical Electron Model ( Lorentz Model)
The dielectric constant of the medium is given by
 = 0 (1+c) = 0 (1+N/ 0)
If the medium is nonmagnetic, the index of refraction is
n= ( /0)1/2 = (1+N/ 0 )1/2

n 
2   1 Ne 2

0  0 m(w 0 2  w 2  iw )

If the second term is small enough then

2
n  1 Ne
2 0 m(w 0  w 2  iw )
2
Classical Electron Model ( Lorentz Model)
The complex refractive index is

Ne 2 (w 0  w 2 ) Ne 2w
2
n  nr  ini  1  i
2 0 m[(w 0  w )  w  ] 2 0 m[(w 0  w 2 ) 2  w 2 2 ]
2 2 2 2 2 2

at w ~w0 ,
Ne 2 (w0  w ) Ne 2
nr  ini  1  i
4 0 mw0 [(w0  w ) 2  ( / 2) 2 ] 8 0 mw0 [(w0  w ) 2  ( / 2) 2 ]

nr
ni

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
(w-w0)/

Normalized plot of n-1 and k versus ww0

 For more than one resonance frequencies for each atom,

fj
n 2  1  Ne  f
2
Z
 0 m j (w j 2  w 2  iw j ) j
j

Classical Electron Model ( Drude model)

If we set w0=0, the Lorentz model become Drude model. This model can be used in free
electron metals

n2  1  Ne 2
 0 m(w 2  iw )
 Relation Between Dielectric Constant and
Refractive Index

By definition,

n2  
0
n  nr  ini

  1  i 2

We can easily get:

nr  { 1 [(1   2 )1/ 2  1 ]}1/ 2 /  0

2 2
2

ni  { 1 [(1   2 )1/ 2  1 ]}1/ 2 /  0

2 2
2
An Example to Calculate Optical Constants

Real and imaginary part of the

index of refraction of GaN vs.
energy;
 Kramers-Kronig Relation
The real part and imaginary part of the complex dielectric function 
w) are not independent. they can connected by Kramers-Kronig
relations:
  (w )w 
1 (w )   0  P  2 2
2 dw 
 0 w w 2

  (w )  
 2 (w )  2w P  1 2 0
dw 
 0 w w 2

P indicates that the integral is a principal value integral.

K-K relation can also be written in other form, like

  ( )
n ( )  1 P  d 
 0 1  (  /  ) 2
 A Method Based on Reflection

Typical experimental setup

( 1) halogen lamp;
(2) mono-chromator; (3) chopper; (4) filter;
(5) polarizer (get p-polarized light); (6) hole diaphragm;
(7) sample on rotating support (); (8) PbS detector(2)
 Calculation
In this case, n1=1, and n2=nr+i n i z
E1'
Snell Law become:
n2=nr+i n i
k1z  k 2 z  2 sin    n1=1

Reflection coefficient: 

n1 k2 x  n2 k1x k2 x  (nr  ini ) 2 k1x

2 2
 x
rp  2 
n1 k2 x  n2 k1x k2 x  (nr  ini ) k1x
2 2

k1x  [( 2 ) 2   2 ]1/ 2

E1
k2 x  [( 2 ) 2 (nr  ini ) 2   2 ]1/ 2

Reflectance:
R(1, , nr, n i)=|r p|2 Reflection of p-polarized light
From this measurement, they got R,  for each wavelength ,Fitting the
experimental curve, they can get nr and n i .
 Results Based on Reflection Measurement

Single effective oscillator model

E0 E d
nr  1 
2
(Eq. 1)
E0  E 2
2

Ef  E
2
Ed E 2 Ed E 4
nr  1   
2
ln( ) (Eq. 2)
E0 E0
3
 E  E
2 2

E f  2E0  E
2 2 2

E d

2 E0 ( E0  E )
3 2 2

FIG. 2. Measured refractive indices at 300 K vs. E0: oscillator energy

photon energy of AlSb and AlxGa1-xAsySb1-y Ed: dispersion energy
layers lattice matched to GaSb (y~0.085 x). E: lowest direct band gap energy
Dashed lines: calculated curves from Eq. ( 1);
Dotted lines: calculated curves from Eq. (2)