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Updated: May 16, 2026

Excitonic Hamiltonians for Calculating Optical Absorption Spectra and Optoelectronic Properties of Molecular Aggregates and Solids
Published on: May 27, 2020
Drift-diffusion model of the fragmentation of the external ring structure in the photoluminescence pattern emitted by
J Wilkes1, E A Muljarov, A L Ivanov
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Under optical excitation, coupled quantum wells are known to reveal fascinating features in the photoluminescence pattern originating from dipole orientated indirect excitons. The appearance of an external ring has been attributed to macroscopic charge separation in the quantum well plane. We present a classical model of nonlinear diffusion to account for the observed fragmentation of the external ring into a periodic array of islands. The model incorporates the Coulomb interactions between electrons, holes, and indirect excitons. At low temperatures, these interactions lead to pattern formation similar to the experimentally observed ring fragmentation. The fragmentation is found to persist to temperatures above the quantum degeneracy temperature of indirect excitons.
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