We present a theoretical analysis for laser cooling of bulk GaAs based on a microscopic many-particle theory of absorption and luminescence of a partially ionized electron-hole plasma. Our cooling threshold analysis shows that, at low temperatures, the presence of the excitonic resonance in the luminescence is essential in competing against heating losses. The theory includes self-consistent energy renormalizations and line broadenings from both instantaneous mean-field and frequency-dependent carrier-carrier correlations, and it is applicable from the few-Kelvin regime to above room temperature.

• Received 1 May 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.117401