2003/08/06 by L. V. Butov, Leonid Levitov, L. S. Levitov +5
Chemistry · Engineering · Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric temperature range #Biexciton #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Exciton #Instability #Materials science #Mechanism (biology) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Optoelectronics #Photoluminescence #Photoreceptor and optogenetics research #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Range (aeronautics) #Recombination #Ring (chemistry) #Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Thermodynamics #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.92.117404
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 117404 (2004) · 8 pages including 4 figures
arxiv created 2003/08/06 · openalex publication_date 2003/08/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The macroscopic exciton rings observed in the photoluminescence (PL) patterns of excitons in coupled quantum wells (CQWs) are explained by a series of experiments and a theory based on the idea of carrier imbalance, transport and recombination. The rings are found to be a source of cold excitons with temperature close to that of the lattice. We explored states of excitons in the ring over a range of temperatures down to 380 mK. These studies reveal a sharp, albeit continuous, second order phase transition to a low-temperature ordered exciton state, characterized by ring fragmentation into a periodic array of aggregates. An instability at the onset of degeneracy in the cold exciton system, due to stimulated exciton formation, is proposed as the transition mechanism.