Influence of the Wavefunction Distribution on Exciton Dissociation in Electric Field

Journal Article · Wed Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physics of the Solid State

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063783418080115· OSTI ID:22771062

Heckötter, J.; Freitag, M.; Fröhlich, D.; Aßmann, M.; Bayer, M. ^[1]; Semina, M. A.

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1. Technische Universität Dortmund, Experimentelle Physik 2 (Germany)

We show that the dissociation threshold of an exciton, a bound electron-hole pair, by an electric field is mainly determined by its energy: as expected, the dissociation voltage decreases with increasing exciton energy. However, within the multiplet of states belonging to a particular principal quantum number n, the dissociation voltage rises with increasing state energy, in contrast to the expectations based on energy arguments. This behavior is demonstrated for the yellow exciton states of Cu{sub 2}O and is attributed to the distribution of the wavefunction in the potential landscape, where the lower (higher) lying state in the multiplet is shifted away (towards) the tunnel barrier.

• OSTI ID: 22771062
• Journal Information: Physics of the Solid State, Vol. 60, Issue 8; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2018 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-7834
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COPPER OXIDES
DIFFUSION BARRIERS
DISSOCIATION
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITONS
MULTIPLETS
QUANTUM NUMBERS
TUNNEL EFFECT
WAVE FUNCTIONS