UBC Theses and Dissertations

UBC Theses Logo

UBC Theses and Dissertations

Non-equilibrium particle number fluctuations Enns, Ernest Gerhard

Abstract

The fluctuations of the constituent populations in a multi-level system are considered as applied to a three and four level semiconductor model. It is shown that under certain conditions the fluctuations of the electron numbers in the conduction band can be super-poisson, defined as having a variance greater than the mean number. The general autocorrelation function for a three level system is obtained. For certain limits, this correlation function is the sum of two damped sinusoidal terms. This would indicate there is an oscillatory interaction between the population numbers. The photon distribution as a function of position within a one-dimensional active medium is derived. When two partially reflecting mirrors are situated at both ends of the medium, the stationary photon distribution obtained is a function of the cavity amplification and the mirror reflectivities. The distribution of photo-electrons emitted from a detector of area A and resolving time T when illuminated by an incident light beam is derived. By using a binomial rather tha a deterministic quantum efficiency an additional term is obtained in the autocorrelation function. The resulting spectral density of the photo-current fluctuations is shown to be the sum of a Poisson particle noise and wave interference term. Several examples of different spectral line shapes are discussed. Also considered is an intensity modulated light beam.

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.