Intervalley scattering in GaAs

Abstract
We report on a measurement of the rise of luminescence intensity in GaAs excited by sub- picosecond pulses at 1.66 eV so that the photoexcited electrons are not energetically allowed to transfer to the L valley. The rise in luminescence is faster in this case compared to that obtained with photoexcitation at 2.04 eV when intervalley transitions are allowed. These results confirm the importance of the intervalley transitions for high photoexcitation energies.