Surface plasmon oscillations in a semi-bounded semiconductor plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum effects like Coulomb exchange, Fermi pressure, and Bohm potential influence surface plasmon oscillations in semi-bounded semiconductor plasmas, with a focus on nano-sized GaAs.

Contribution

It derives a comprehensive dispersion relation for surface plasma waves considering quantum forces, extending previous models and analyzing their impact in semiconductor contexts.

Findings

Coulomb exchange effects significantly alter surface plasmon behaviors.

Quantum forces influence dispersion properties in nano-sized GaAs plasmas.

The model recovers previous results and extends understanding of quantum plasma surface waves.

Abstract

We study the dispersion properties of surface plasmon oscillations in a semi-bounded semiconductor plasma with the effects of the Coulomb exchange force associated with the spin polarization of electrons and holes as well as the effects of the Fermi degenerate pressure and the quantum Bohm potential. Starting from a quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model coupled to the Poisson equation, we derive the general dispersion relation for surface plasma waves. Previous results in this context are recovered. The dispersion properties of the surface waves are analyzed in some particular cases of interest and the relative influence of the quantum forces on these waves are also studied for a nano-sized GaAs semiconductor plasma. It is found that the Coulomb exchange effects significantly modify the behaviors of the surface plasmon waves. The present results are applicable to understand the propagation characteristics of surface waves in solid density plasmas.