Rydberg excitons in cuprous oxide: A two-particle system with classical chaos

Area of Science:

• Solid State Physics
• Quantum Mechanics
• Semiconductor Physics

Background:

• Excitons are hydrogen-like bound states of electrons and holes in semiconductors.
• Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) exhibits excitons with high principal quantum numbers extending to the micrometer range.
• Classical dynamics should emerge from quantum mechanics at these large scales.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the classical dynamics of yellow and green exciton series in cuprous oxide.
• Analyze two-dimensional and three-dimensional orbits.
• Compare the dynamics between the yellow and green exciton series.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of classical dynamics for 2D and 3D orbits.
• Study of exciton series in cuprous oxide (Cu2O).
• Examination of phase space characteristics.

Main Results:

• Classical dynamics in Cu2O deviate from purely hydrogen-like behavior due to complex valence band structure.
• Yellow and green exciton series show different dynamical behaviors.
• The green exciton series exhibits large regions of classical chaos in phase space.

Conclusions:

• The complex valence band structure of Cu2O leads to non-integrable classical dynamics and potential for chaos.
• The yellow exciton series dynamics are predominantly regular.
• The green exciton series displays significant classical chaotic behavior, distinguishing it from the yellow series.