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We propose and analyze a physical mechanism for photogeneration of multiexcitons by single photons ͑carrier multiplication͒ in semiconductor nanocrystals, which involves intraband optical transitions within the manifold of biexciton states. In this mechanism, a virtual biexciton is generated from nanocrystal vacuum by the Coulomb interaction between two valence-band electrons, which results in their transfer to the conduction band. The virtual biexciton is then converted into a real, energy-conserving biexciton by photon absorption on an intraband optical transition. The proposed mechanism is inactive in bulk semiconductors as momentum conservation suppresses intraband transitions. However, it becomes highly efficient in the case of zerodimensional nanocrystals, where quantum confinement results in relaxation of momentum conservation, which is accompanied by the development of strong intraband absorption. Our calculations show that the efficiency of the carrier multiplication channel mediated by intraband optical transitions can be comparable to or even greater than that for impact-ionization-like processes mediated by interband transitions.

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A system of polaritons interacting with a two-level atom placed within a frequency dispersive medium is proven to be integrable and diagonalized exactly by the Bethe ansatz method, despite a nonlocal effective polariton-polariton coupling. Its spectrum consists of bound many-polariton complexes (quantum solitons) and exhibits unusual features due to the existence of the polaritonic gap. Only solitons containing an even number of polaritons ("even" solitons) propagate within the gap, while an "odd" soliton is pinned to the atom and forms a many-polariton-atom bound state. [S0031-9007(96)