Quantum Monte Carlo simulation of exciton-exciton scattering in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well

We present a computer simulation of exciton-exciton scattering in a quantum well. Specifically, we use quantum Monte Carlo techniques to study the bound and continuum states of two excitons in a 10 nm wide GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As quantum well. From these bound and continuum states we extract the momentum-dependent phase shifts for s-wave scattering. A surprising finding of this work is that a commonly studied effective-mass model for excitons in a 10 nm quantum well actually supports two bound biexciton states. The second, weakly bound state may dramatically enhance exciton-exciton interactions. We also fit our results to a hard-disk model and indicate directions for future work. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.