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Auger processes are of great importance for both fundamental research and technological applications, since they change the number of charge carriers in a system. Here, we present a microscopic study on the influence of Auger relaxation channels on the carrier dynamics in graphene. The presented time-, momentum-, and angle-resolved calculations reveal the importance of the impact excitation giving rise to a significant multiplication of optically excited carriers and a remarkable Coulomb-induced carrier cooling effect. We propose low pump fluence, high excitation energy, and low ambient temperature as optimal conditions for an efficient carrier multiplication reaching values of up to 2. 5 even in the presence of phonons. The optimal regime is confirmed by an analytic expression for the carrier multiplication, which gives further insights into the role of Auger processes for a Dirac-like carrier system. Our results can help to guide future experiments to demonstrate the carrier multiplication in graphene and related structures.
Winzer et al. (Thu,) studied this question.