Optical Response and Ground State of Graphene

The optical response and the ground state of graphene and graphene-like systems are determined self-consistently. Deriving equations of motion for the basic variables, graphene Bloch equations are introduced and combined with a variational Ansatz for the ground state. Within the Hartree--Fock approximation, this approach reproduces the gap equation for the ground state. The results show that the Coulomb interaction drastically influences the optical response of graphene and introduces an extremely sensitive dependency on the dielectric environment via screening. Regarding the effective fine-structure constant as control parameter, a transition from a semimetal to an excitonic insulator is predicted as soon as the effective graphene fine-structure constant exceeds a value of roughly 0.5. Above this critical value, the computed optical spectra exhibit a pseudogap and several bright $p$-like excitonic resonances.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

Symmetric invariant manifolds in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattice

The Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) lattice with periodic boundary conditions and $n$ particles admits a large group of discrete symmetries. The fixed point sets of these symmetries naturally form invariant symplectic manifolds that are investigated in this short note. For each $k$ dividing $n$ we find $k$ degree of freedom invariant manifolds. They represent short wavelength solutions composed of $k$ Fourier-modes and can be interpreted as embedded lattices with periodic boundary conditions and only $k$ particles. Inside these invariant manifolds other invariant structures and exact solutions are found which represent for instance periodic and quasi-periodic solutions and standing and traveling waves. Some of these results have been found previously by other authors via a study of mode coupling coefficients and recently also by investigating `bushes of normal modes'. The method of this paper is similar to the latter method and much more systematic than the former. We arrive at previously unknown results without any difficult computations. It is shown moreover that similar invariant manifolds exist also in the Klein-Gordon lattice and in the thermodynamic and continuum limits.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physica

Observation of Inter-layer Excitons in MoSe2 Single Crystals

Interlayer excitons are observed coexisting with intralayer excitons in bi-layer, few-layer, and bulk MoSe2 single crystals by confocal reflection contrast spectroscopy. Quantitative analysis using the Dirac-Bloch-Equations provides unambiguous state assignment of all the measured resonances. The interlayer excitons in bilayer MoSe2 have a large binding energy of 153 meV, narrow linewidth of 20 meV, and their spectral weight is comparable to the commonly studied higher-order intralayer excitons. At the same time, the interlayer excitons are characterized by distinct transition energies and permanent dipole moments providing a promising high temperature and optically accessible platform for dipolar exciton physics

Ultrafast band-gap renormalization and build-up of optical gain in monolayer MoTe2_2

The dynamics of band-gap renormalization and gain build-up in monolayer MoTe$_2$ is investigated by evaluating the non-equilibrium Dirac-Bloch equations with the incoherent carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering treated via quantum-Boltzmann type scattering equations. For the case where an approximately $300$ fs-long high intensity optical pulse generates charge-carrier densities in the gain regime, the strong Coulomb coupling leads to a relaxation of excited carriers on a few fs time scale. The pump-pulse generation of excited carriers induces a large band-gap renormalization during the time scale of the pulse. Efficient phonon coupling leads to a subsequent carrier thermalization within a few ps, which defines the time scale for the optical gain build-up energetically close to the low-density exciton resonance.Comment: This is a post-peer-review version of an article published in Physical Review

Polariton Local States in Periodic Bragg Multiple Quantum Well Structures

We analytically study optical properties of several types of defects in Bragg multiple quantum well structures. We show that a single defect leads to two local polariton modes in the photonic band gap. These modes lead to peculiarities in reflection and transmission spectra. Detailed recommendations for experimental observation of the studied effects are given.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, RevTex, Submitted to Opt. Let

Principals of the theory of light reflection and absorption by low-dimensional semiconductor objects in quantizing magnetic fields at monochromatic and pulse excitations

The bases of the theory of light reflection and absorption by low-dimensional semiconductor objects (quantum wells, wires and dots) at both monochromatic and pulse irradiations and at any form of light pulses are developed. The semiconductor object may be placed in a stationary quantizing magnetic field. As an example the case of normal light incidence on a quantum well surface is considered. The width of the quantum well may be comparable to the light wave length and number of energy levels of electronic excitations is arbitrary. For Fourier-components of electric fields the integral equation (similar to the Dyson-equation) and solutions of this equation for some individual cases are obtained.Comment: 14 page

Traces of stimulated bosonic exciton-scattering in semiconductor luminescence

We observe signatures of stimulated bosonic scattering of excitons, a precursor of Bose-Einstein-Condensation (BEC), in the photoluminescence of semiconductor quantum wells. The optical decay of a spinless molecule of two excitons (biexciton) into an exciton and a photon with opposite angular momenta is subject to bosonic enhancement in the presence of other excitons. In a spin polarized gas of excitons the bosonic enhancement breaks the symmetry of two equivalent decay channels leading to circularly polarized luminescence of the biexciton with the sign opposite to the excitonic luminescence. Comparison of experiment and many body theory proves stimulated scattering of excitons, but excludes the presence of a fully condensed BEC-like state.Comment: 5 page