Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Changing the Direction and Orientation of Electric Field During Electric Pulses Application Improves Plasmid Gene Transfer in vitro
Published on: September 12, 2011
Extraordinary carrier multiplication gated by a picosecond electric field pulse
H Hirori1, K Shinokita, M Shirai
1Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. hirori@icems.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
The study of carrier multiplication has become an essential part of many-body physics and materials science as this multiplication directly affects nonlinear transport phenomena, and has a key role in designing efficient solar cells and electroluminescent emitters and highly sensitive photon detectors. Here we show that a 1-MVcm(-1) electric field of a terahertz pulse, unlike a DC bias, can generate a substantial number of electron-hole pairs, forming excitons that emit near-infrared luminescence. The bright luminescence associated with carrier multiplication suggests that carriers coherently driven by a strong electric field can efficiently gain enough kinetic energy to induce a series of impact ionizations that can increase the number of carriers by about three orders of magnitude on the picosecond time scale.
Related Concept Videos
Carrier Generation and Recombination
This process is given by the generation rate G and is efficient due to the conservation of momentum between the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum.
Indirect generation involves an...
Van de Graaff Generator
Van de Graaff uses both smooth and pointed surfaces, conductors, and insulators to generate large static charges and, hence, large voltages. A substantial excess charge can be deposited on the sphere because it moves...
Generating Electromagnetic Radiations
NMR Spectrometers: Radiofrequency Pulses and Pulse Sequences
Intensity Of Electromagnetic Waves
Induced Electric Fields

