Indirect Band-to-Band Auger Recombination in Ge

Abstract

A high-energy photon emission from Ge is observed at a photon energy of about $2E_g$. It is concluded from dependence on energy, temperature, and carrier density that a hole is brought into the split-off valence band by indirect band-to-band Auger transition. Here the hole "thermalizes" and is able to recombine with an electron in the conduction band, emitting a photon.