First order non-equilibrium phase transition and bistability of an electron gas

TL;DR

This paper investigates a non-equilibrium first order phase transition and bistability in a highly photo-excited electron gas, revealing multiple steady states, hysteresis, and phase coexistence driven by nonlinear kinetics.

Contribution

It introduces a nonlinear rate equation model showing bistability and phase coexistence in electron gases under photo-excitation, identifying a non-equilibrium first order phase transition.

Findings

Three steady state solutions with two stable states identified

Hysteresis region characterized for bistability

Phase coexistence modeled with a diffusion approach

Abstract

We study the carrier concentration bistabilities that occur to a highly photo-excited electron gas. The kinetics of this non-equilibrium electron gas is given by a set of nonlinear rate equations. For low temperatures and cw photo-excitation we show that they have three steady state solutions when the photo-excitation energy is in a certain interval which depends on the electron-electron interaction. Two of them are stable and the other is unstable. We also find the hysteresis region in terms of which these bistabilities are expressed. A diffusion model is constructed which allows the coexistence of two homogeneous spatially separated phases in the non-equilibrium electron gas. The order parameter is the difference of the electron population in the bottom of the conduction band of these two steady stable states. By defining a generalized free potential we obtain the Maxwell construction that determines the order parameter. This order parameter goes to zero when we approach to the critical curve. Hence, this phase transition is a non-equilibrium first order phase transition.