Tunneling Recombination in Optically Pumped Graphene with Electron-Hole Puddles

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron-hole tunneling recombination in optically pumped graphene with puddles, revealing its potential dominance and complex dependence on pumping conditions, which may lead to hysteresis effects.

Contribution

It introduces a model for tunneling recombination in graphene with electron-hole puddles and analyzes its impact on recombination rates and hysteresis phenomena.

Findings

Tunneling recombination can dominate in various pumping regimes.

Recombination rate and time are nonmonotonic functions of quasi-Fermi energies.

Hysteresis phenomena may occur due to this mechanism.

Abstract

We evaluate recombination of electrons and holes in optically pumped graphene associated with the interband tunneling between electron-hole puddles and calculate the recombination rate and time. It is demonstrated that this mechanism can be dominant in a wide range of pumping intensities. We show that the tunneling recombination rate and time are nonmonotonic functions of the quasi-Fermi energies of electrons and holes and optical pumping intensity. This can result in hysteresis phenomena.