Formation and decay of electron-hole droplets in diamond

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-hole droplets form and decay in diamond across different temperatures, revealing behaviors similar to both direct and indirect-gap semiconductors and aligning with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive kinetic model for electron-hole droplets in diamond, highlighting temperature-dependent behaviors and predicting droplet dynamics under various excitations.

Findings

Low-temperature kinetics resemble direct-gap semiconductors

High-temperature behavior shows metastability similar to indirect-gap semiconductors

Results align with experimental observations by Nagai et al.

Abstract

We study the formation and decay of electron-hole droplets in diamonds at both low and high temperatures under different excitations by master equations. The calculation reveals that at low temperature the kinetics of the system behaves as in direct-gap semiconductors, whereas at high temperature it shows metastability as in traditional indirect-gap semiconductors. Our results at low temperature are consistent with the experimental findings by Nagai {\em et al.} [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 68}, 081202 (R) (2003)]. The kinetics of the e-h system in diamonds at high temperature under both low and high excitations is also predicted.