Monte Carlo study of the transient expansion of photogenerated plasmas in bulk semiconductors: Nonequilibrium phonon effects

We examine the transient expansion of the photogenerated electron-hole plasma in semiconductors with the ensemble Monte Carlo technique. A high photoexcitation energy is used to study the nonequilibrium optical-phonon effects, with both their temporal and spatial dependences being included for the first time. Specific numerical calculations within the picosecond regime are given for InP. Our results demonstrate that the nonequilibrium phonons significantly enhance the expansion of the plasma during the first few picoseconds, and change the spatial-carrier-distribution profiles.