Exciton condensation in coupled quantum wells

Bound electron–hole pairs—excitons—are Bose particles with small mass. Exciton Bose–Einstein condensation is expected to occur at a few degrees Kelvin—a temperature many orders of magnitude higher than for atoms. Experimentally, an exciton temperature well below 1 K is achieved in coupled quantum well (CQW) semiconductor nanostructures. In this contribution, we review briefly experiments that signal exciton condensation in CQWs: a strong enhancement of the indirect exciton mobility consistent with the onset of exciton superfluidity, a strong enhancement of the radiative decay rate of the indirect excitons consistent with exciton condensate superradiance, strong fluctuations of the indirect exciton emission consistent with critical fluctuations near the phase transition, and a strong enhancement of the exciton scattering rate with increasing concentration of the indirect excitons revealing bosonic stimulation of exciton scattering. Novel experiments with exciton condensation in potential traps, pattern formation in exciton system and macroscopically ordered exciton state will also be reviewed briefly. q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PACS: 71.35. 2 y; 73.20.Dx; 78.55