Type: Article
Publication Date: 2012-05-28
Citations: 48
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4721495
The problem of conversion of experimentally measured luminescence spectrum into the absorption cross section is revisited. The common practice of using the van Roosbroeck-Shockley (or Kubo-Martin-Schwinger or Kennard-Stepanov) relation in this context is incorrect because luminescence from semiconductors is essentially all due to the spontaneous emission component of the recombination of carriers distributed far-from-equilibrium. A simple, physically consistent, and practical prescription for converting the luminescence spectra into absorption is presented and its relation to the so-called nonequilibrium generalization of the van Roosbroeck-Shockley relationship is discussed.