C. Rocke et al., EXCITON IONIZATION IN A QUANTUM-WELL STUDIED BY SURFACE ACOUSTIC-WAVES, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 57(12), 1998, pp. 6850-6853
Photogenerated excitons in a semiconductor quantum well are ionized by
the strong lateral piezoelectric field of an intense surface acoustic
wave. The ionization process is directly observed by the absorption o
f a second sound wave probing the areal conductivity of the photogener
ated charges. Above a certain threshold field strength of the pumping
surface wave the neutral excitons are dissociated into electron-hole p
airs, which is indicated by a sudden onset of absorption of the probe
wave. By selectively tuning the energy of the exciting laser, the diss
ociation of both quasi two-dimensional excitons in the quantum well as
well as three-dimensional excitons in the barrier material can be obs
erved.