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Theory of the Contribution of Excitons to the Complex Dielectric Constant of Crystals

1958/12/01 by J. J. Hopfield · 2,343 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Absorption (acoustics) #Biexciton #Condensed matter physics #Dielectric #Electromagnetic field #Exciton #Optical and Acousto-Optic Technologies #Optics #Oscillator strength #Photon #Physics #Quantum #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Semiclassical physics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies

paper · doi:10.1103/physrev.112.1555

published in Physical Review 112(5), 1555-1567 (American Institute of Physics)

openalex publication_date 1958/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

It is shown that the ordinary semiclassical theory of the absorption of light by exciton states is not completely satisfactory (in contrast to the case of absorption due to interband transitions). A more complete theory is developed. It is shown that excitons are approximate bosons, and, in interaction with the electromagnetic field, the exciton field plays the role of the classical polarization field. The eigenstates of the system of crystal and radiation field are mixtures of photons and excitons. The ordinary one-quantum optical lifetime of an excitation is infinite. Absorption occurs only when "three-body" processes are introduced. The theory includes "local field" effects, leading to the Lorentz local field correction when it is applicable. A Smakula equation for the oscillator strength in terms of the integrated absorption constant is derived.

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