Properties of the electron-hole plasma in II-VI compounds as a function of temperature

We present time-integrated and time-resolved luminescence and gain investigations in CdS and CdSe under low and high excitation for temperatures between liquid-helium and room temperature. We observe an increase of the density and the lifetime of the carriers and a decrease of their drift length with increasing temperature. The results are compared with measurements of other II-VI compounds. The findings are discussed in the frame of the many-particle theory for an electron-hole plasma and compared to some universal approaches to the band-gap renormalization presented in other works.