Theory and numerical aspects of fundamental light–matter interactions

For the generation rates of free charge carriers in doped semiconductors induced by incoming photon, the basic materials parameter is the frequency-dependent attenuation coefficient α(ω). But there is an even deeper connection between the macroscopic photoinduced generation rates of free charge carriers (like in a typical solar cell), and the quantum mechanical rate equations for electron–hole processes induced by photons. The latter essentially describe the fundamental light–matter interaction processes in solids. We will show how to derive these basic rate equations, and we will also apply them in practice, based on typical experimental and numerical data.