Universal anomalous exponent of photoconduction

M. Wilkinson

doi:10.1209/0295-5075/96/67007

All issues

Volume 96 / No 6 (December 2011)

EPL, 96 6 (2011) 67007

Abstract

Issue		EPL Volume 96, Number 6, December 2011


Article Number		67007
Number of page(s)		5
Section		Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/96/67007
Published online		06 December 2011

EPL, 96 (2011) 67007

Universal anomalous exponent of photoconduction

M. Wilkinson^a

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The Open University - Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK, EU

^a m.wilkinson@open.ac.uk

Received: 7 August 2011
Accepted: 4 November 2011

Abstract

Experiments often show that the photoconductance σ of a semiconductor system and the light intensity I are related by σ∼I^γ. Conventional theories give a satisfactory explanation for γ=1 or $\gamma=\frac{1}{2}$ , but anamalous exponents close to $\gamma=\frac{3}{4}$ are often observed. This paper argues that there is a universal anomalous regime for which $\gamma=\frac{3}{4}$ (or $\gamma=\frac{2}{3}$ in two dimensions), resulting from the kinetics of electron-hole recombination being controlled by Coulombic attraction. Because the local electric fields are extremely high, the theory uses the “hot-carrier” model for transport.

PACS: 72.20.Ht – High-field and nonlinear effects / 72.20.Jv – Charge carriers: generation, recombination, lifetime, and trapping / 72.40.+w – Photoconduction and photovoltaic effects

© EPLA, 2011

Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.

Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.

Initial download of the metrics may take a while.