RUB Scientists Show Radiative Auger Process in Quantum Dots

Scientists at Ruhr-University Bochum, working with researchers based in Basel and Copenhagen, have demonstrated the connection between the radiative Auger process and quantum optics. The scientists experimentally confirmed the radiative Auger process in quantum dots, observing this process in the limit of a single photon and one Auger electron. They showed that quantum optics measurements with the radiative Auger emission can be used as a tool for investigating the dynamics of a single electron. Atoms consist of a positively charged core that is surrounded by one or more negatively charged electrons. When one electron in an atom has a high energy level, it can reduce its energy by two well-known processes: It can release energy in...