Ultrafast transient response of solid-state plasmas. I. Germanium, theory, and experiment

Abstract

A first-principles theory is developed for the generation and the subsequent transient behavior of dense electron-hole plasmas produced in germanium by intense picosecond optical pulses. Experimental data are discussed and compared with the theory. It is shown that the valley structure of the Ge conduction band, phonons, and plasmons play significant roles in the generation and the temporal evolution of the plasma. The agreement between the theory and experiments is good. Some predictions of the theory are discussed.