ON THE STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS OF A MODEL FOR NONEQUILIBRIUM SEMICONDUCTORS

We describe the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a model for semiconductors under high levels of excitation using the non-equilibrium statistical operator method. We obtain thermodynamic functions in terms of thermodynamic variables that are accessible to experimental measurements via ultrafast laser spectroscopy. Calculations of entropy production and the rate of entropy production are performed. Kinetic equations for the relaxation processes are derived and Onsager-like coefficients are defined. It is shown that for the system we consider Prigogine's theorem of minimum entropy production holds even in the non-linear regime, and the Glansdorff-Prigogine universal evolution criterion is verified.