Dynamics Of Electronic Excitation Of Solids With Ultrashort Laser Pulse

摘要

When ultrashort laser pulses irradiate a solid, photoabsorption by electrons in conduction band produces nonequilibrium highly energetic free electrons gas. We study the ionization and excitation of the electronic subsystem in a semiconductor and a metal (solid silicon and aluminum, respectively). The irradiating femtosecond laser pulse has a duration of 10 fs and a photon energy of hw = 38 eV. The classical Monte Carlo method is extended to take into account the electronic band structure and Pauli's principle for electrons excited to the conduction band. In the case of semiconductors this applies to the holes as well. Conduction band electrons and valence band holes induce secondary excitation and ionization processes which we simulate event by event. We discuss the transient electron dynamics with respect to the differences between semiconductors and metals. For metals the electronic distribution is split up into two branches: a low energy distribution as a slightly distorted Fermi-distribution and a long high energy tail. For the case of semiconductors it is split into two parts by the band gap. To thermalize, these excited electronic subsystems need longer times than the characteristic pulse duration. Therefore, the analysis of experimental data with femtosecond lasers must be based on non-equilibrium concepts.