We propose a quantum approach to “electron-hole exchange,” better named electron-hole pair exchange, that makes use of the second quantization formalism to describe the problem in terms of Bloch-state electron operators. This approach renders transparent the fact that such singular effect comes from interband Coulomb processes. We first show that, due to the sign change when turning from valence-electron destruction operator to hole creation operator, the interband Coulomb interaction only acts on spin-singlet electron-hole pairs, just like the interband electron-photon interaction, thereby making these spin-singlet pairs optically bright. We then show that, when written in terms of reciprocal lattice vectors ${\mathbf{G}}_m$, the singularity of the interband Coulomb scattering in the small wave-vector transfer limit entirely comes from the ${\mathbf{G}}_m=\mathbf{0}$ term, which renders its singular behavior easy to calculate. Comparison with the usual real-space formulation in which the singularity appears through a sum of “long-range processes” over all ${\mathbf{R}}_{\ell }\ne \mathbf{0}$ lattice vectors once more proves that periodic systems are easier to handle in terms of reciprocal vectors ${\mathbf{G}}_m$ than in terms of lattice vectors ${\mathbf{R}}_{\ell }$. Well-accepted consequences of the electron-hole exchange on excitons and polaritons are reconsidered and refuted for different major reasons.

• Received 6 December 2022
• Revised 11 March 2023
• Accepted 16 March 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.115206