Simplified calculations of band-gap renormalization in quantum-wells

Non-linear optical properties of photoexcited semiconductor quantum-wells are of interest because of their opto-electronic device application possibilities. Many-body interactions of the optically created electrons and holes lead to the band-gap renormalization which in turn determines the absorption spectra of such systems. We employ a simplified approach to calculate the band-gap renormalization in quantum-well systems by considering the interaction of a single electron-hole pair with the collective excitations (plasmons). This method neglects the exchange-correlation effects but fully accounts for the Coulomb-hole term in the single-particle self-energy. We demonstrate that the density, temperature, and well-width dependence of the band-gap renormalization for GaAs quantum-wells within our model is in good agreement with the experimental results. © 1996 Academic Press Limited.