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Abstract: We observe signatures of stimulated bosonic scattering of excitons, a precursor of Bose–Einstein-Condensation (BEC), in the photoluminescence of semiconductor quantum wells. The optical decay of a spinless molecule of two excitons (biexciton) into an exciton and a photon with opposite angular momenta is subject to bosonic enhancement in the presence of other excitons. In a gas of biexcitons and spin polarized excitons the bosonic enhancement breaks the symmetry of two equivalent biexciton decay channels leading to circularly polarized luminescence of the biexciton with the sign opposite to the circularly polarized exciton luminescence. Comparison of experiment and many body theory clearly indicates the existence of stimulated exciton-scattering, but excludes the presence of a fully condensed BEC-like state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We observed a circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) in GaAs quantum wells at inter-band excitation. The spectral dependence of the CPGE is measured together with that of the polarization degree of the time-resolved photoluminescence. A theoretical model takes into account spin splitting of conduction and valence bands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]