Ultrashort-laser pulse induced plasma dynamics in semiconductor nanowires

We use a spatially non-local model of semiconductor Bloch equations to simulate ultrashort laser-induced plasma dynamics in a direct gap semiconductor nanowire. After laser exposure, the generated electron-hole plasma briefly undergoes plasma oscillations even in the near absence of Coulomb screening in 1D material. The cause of these oscillations is shown to be the dynamics of the propagating laser field coupled with the spatially non-local material model, resulting in momentum transfer from the laser field to the carriers during absorption and the appearance of non-zero off-diagonal density matrix elements. We further show how this plasma responds to probing THz radiation and examine the role of Coulomb and phonon scattering during the plasma oscillations.