Fundamentals of Excitons

Abstract

An electron and an electron hole are attracted to each other by electrostatic Coulomb force and combine. This bound state of electron-hole pair is known as an exciton. It can carry energy without transferring net electric charge because it is an electrically neutral quasiparticle. Excitons exist in semiconductors, insulators and some liquids. Frenkel exciton and Wannier-Mott exciton are the two types of excitons. In this section, the origin of excitons, types of excitons, and the relaxation and thermalization behavior of excitons with some research results have been discussed.

Keywords: Auger decay, Exciton phonon scattering, Exciton exciton scattering, Origin of excitons, Relaxation behavior of excitons, Thermalization behavior of excitons.

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