Optically induced avalanche in InSb

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

In 1979, Jamison and Nurmikko reported that high infrared light intensities led to self-induced opacity in narrow-gap n-type semiconductors. They attributed the effect to an avalanche generation of excess carriers by hot, photoexcited conduction electrons and subsequent intervalence band absorption. Here the authors present a rate-equation model for the distribution of hot carriers in the case of InSb at 77K. In the non-parabolic conduction band they introduce single- and two-photon absorption as hot-carrier excitation processes, LO-phonon emission and impact ionisation as energy-loss mechanisms. The assumption of two-photon absorption is necessary for the establishment of a sufficient population above the threshold energy for impact ionisation. They estimate the two-photon absorption rate from a numerical simulation of Jamison and Nurmikko's experiment.