Effect of Nonparabolicity on Light Scattering from Plasmas in Solids

Abstract

The effect of band nonparabolicity on the scattering of light from a plasma in a solid is discussed. Quasi-elastic scattering, which in an ordinary plasma is suppressed by Coulomb effects, can occur with a reasonable cross section in a nonparabolic plasma. Detailed calculations are performed for the cases of InSb and InAs. They indicate that the quasi-elastic scattering could be used to measure electron velocity distributions in these crystals. Magnetic field effects are discussed briefly, and an argument is given to indicate why the Landau-Raman and plasmon scattering do not mix appreciably.