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paper

Unifying explanation for carrier relaxation anomaly in gapped systems

arXiv:1202.2635

Abstract

We develop a theory to describe energy relaxation of photo-excited carriers in low-temperature ordered states with band gap opening and formulate carrier relaxation time $τ$ near and below transition temperature $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ by quantifying contributions from different carrier-phonon scatterings to the relaxation rate. The theory explains anomalous experimental observations of $τ$ in gapped systems. Transverse acoustic (TA) phonon modes play a crucial role in carrier relaxation; their heat capacity determines $τ$-divergence near $T_{\mathrm{c}}$. The theory is validated by fitting $τ$ of fullerene polymers onto a theoretical curve.

5 pages, 3 figures