Diffusion of fast and slow excitons with an exchange in quasi-two-dimensional systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates exciton diffusion in quasi-two-dimensional systems with fast and slow subsystems, revealing negative diffusion effects and providing analytical expressions for effective diffusion coefficients relevant to experimental and theoretical studies.

Contribution

It introduces a model for exciton diffusion with exchange between fast and slow subsystems, deriving analytical formulas for effective diffusion coefficients and explaining negative diffusion phenomena.

Findings

Negative diffusion observed when measuring a single subsystem.

Delayed release of fast excitons causes profile narrowing.

Analytical expressions for combined diffusion coefficients.

Abstract

By means of analytical calculations and numerical simulations we study the diffusion properties in quasi-two-dimensional structures with two exciton subsystems with an exchange between them. The experimental realisation is possible in systems where fast and slow exciton subsystems appear. For substantially different diffusion coefficients of the species the negative diffusion can be observed, if one measures the transport properties of only a single subsystem, just as was obtained in experimental studies for quasi-two-dimensional semiconductor systems. The initial transition from a fast subsystem to a slow one results in a delayed release of fast excitons in the area close to the original excitation spot. Hence, the signal from the fast excitons alone includes the delayed replenishment from the transition of slow quasi-particles. This is seen as the narrowing of the exciton density profile or decrease of mean-squared displacement which is then interpreted as a negative diffusion. The average diffusion coefficients for the combined population are analytically expressed through the diffusion coefficients of fast and slow excitons. Simple analytical expressions for effective diffusion coefficients obtained in limiting cases are of interest both for theoretical and experimental analysis of not only the exciton transport, but also for a variety of systems, where fast and slow moving subsystems are present.