Multimedia Gallery - Image of multiple-exciton generation, which suggests one exciton can produce multiple excitons.

March 23, 2011

Image of multiple-exciton generation, which suggests one exciton can produce multiple excitons.

Illustration of multiple-exciton generation (MEG), a theory that suggests it is possible for an electron that has absorbed light energy, called an exciton, to transfer that energy to more than one electron, resulting in more electricity from the same amount of absorbed light. The left side shows an electron promoted to a high energy state (blue) plus the "hole" vacated by the electron (red). The right side shows the original exciton (now dark green/red) and a new exciton (light green/orange) after MEG. The top image shows a conceptualized version of the idea, while the bottom shows an actual exciton and bi-exciton using the same color scheme.

Credit: Mark T. Lusk, Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines

Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.

Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.

Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (7.5 MB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.