Abstract

A theory of resonant Raman cooling of semiconductors and radiation balanced Raman lasing based on a simple physical picture is developed. It is shown that in order to achieve Raman cooling a number of often contradictory requirements need to be satisfied—such as relatively low optical phonon energy and large exciton binding energy. As a result, it is unlikely that Raman cooling to less than 250 K can be attained in semiconductors. At the same time, it may be possible to operate a (Stokes) Raman laser that is cooled by anti-Stokes Raman scattering at around 300 K.

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