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For a vertical interband transition, the crystal momentum is effectively unchanged because the photon momentum is small. A stimulated downward transition needs an occupied upper state and an empty lower state, with factor $f_c(E_2)[1-f_v(E_1)]$; upward photon absorption has factor $f_v(E_1)[1-f_c(E_2)]$. The two matrix elements agree by microscopic reversibility. Their difference is thereforeA common slowly varying transition-strength factor is implicit. Broadening replaces the sharp transition by a convolution; multiple valence bands contribute separate terms.

For one isotropic pair of parabolic energy bands, writeThus $E_2-E_1=E_g+{\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m_r)$. Including the usual twofold spin degeneracy, the number of paired states per volume inside a sphere of radius $k$ is $k^3/(3{\pi }^2)$. Differentiating with respect to transition energy $E$ gives the three-dimensional parabolic interband joint density of statesFor density per angular frequency, $g_j^{(\omega )}(\omega )=\hslash g_j^{(E)}(\hslash \omega )$. Stating the density convention avoids a missing factor of $\hslash$; other degeneracies multiply the formula.

At a common carrier temperature, the Fermi-Dirac distribution is a strictly decreasing function of $E-F$. The direct-gap semiconductor gain condition follows:The lower inequality denotes a transition above the ideal band edge, where the displayed joint density of states is nonzero. Thus quasi-Fermi-level splitting must exceed the transition photon energy. Equality is transparency, rather than net amplification; at zero temperature an allowed transition must also lie within the occupied-electron and empty-valence windows.