Reversible Carriers Tunnelling in Asymmetric Coupled InGaN/GaN Quantum Wells

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence （PL） and time resolved photoluminescence （TRPL） are performed to study the PL characteristics and carrier transfer mechanism in asymmetric coupled InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells （AS-QWs）. Our results reveal that abnormal carrier tunnelling from the wide quantum well （WQW） to the narrow quantum well （NQW） is observed at temperature higher than about lOOK, while a normal carrier tunnelling from the NQW to the WQW is observed at temperature lower than 100 K. The reversible carrier tunnelling between the two Q Ws makes it possible to explore new types of temperature sensitive emission devices. It is shown that PL internal quantum efficiency （IQE） of the NQW is enhanced to about 46% due to the assistant of the abnormal carrier tunnelling.     

Tunnelling-Induced Transient Gain in an Asymmetric Double Quantum Well

We investigate the transient behaviour of a weak probe in asymmetric double quantum well structures, where two excited states are coupled by resonant tunnelling through a thin barrier in a three-level system of electronic subbands. There is no external coherent coupling field applied, and we find that probe gain can be achieved during the transient process, which is induced by the coherent coupling of the upper states via the resonant tunnelling. We show that the transient behaviour of the probe depends on the coupling strength and the dephasing rate and can be tuned by changing the width of the tunnelling barrier.     

Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence in Coupling Structures of CdSe Quantum Dots and a ZnCdSe Quantum Well

A coupling structure of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and a ZnCdSe quantum well (QW) is fabricated by using the molecular-beam epitaxy technique. The effect o~ temperature on the photoluminescence (PL) of the structure is studied. The results reveal that the activation energy of exciton dissociation in the coupling QDs/QW structure is much higher than that of simple CdSe QDs, which is attributed to the exciton tunnelling from the QW to QDs through a thin ZnSe barrier layer. The results also reveal that the position and width of the emission band of the QDs vary discontinuously at certain temperatures. This phenomenon is explained by the QD ionization and exciton tunnelling from the QW to the QDs. It is demonstrated that the coupling structure significantly improves the PL intensity of CdSe QDs.     

Optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs strained quantum wells studied by temperature-dependent photoluminescence

The effect of bismuth on the optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs quantum well structures is investigated using the temperature-dependent photoluminescence from 12 K to 450 K.The incorporation of bismuth in the InGaAsBi quantum well is confirmed and found to result in a red shift of photoluminescence wavelength of 27.3 meV at 300 K.The photoluminescence intensity is significantly enhanced by about 50 times at 12 K with respect to that of the InGaAs quantum well due to the surfactant effect of bismuth.The temperature-dependent integrated photoluminescence intensities of the two samples reveal different behaviors related to various non-radiative recombination processes.The incorporation of bismuth also induces alloy non-uniformity in the quantum well,leading to an increased photoluminescence linewidth.     

Pressure effect study on the Ⅰ-Ⅴ property of the GaAs-based resonant tunnelling structure by photoluminescence measurement

This paper discusses the Ⅰ-Ⅴ property of the GaAs-based resonant tunnelling structure(RTS) under external uniaxial pressure by photoluminescence studies.Compressive pressure parallel to the [110] direction,whose value is determined by Hooke's law,is imposed on the sample by a helix micrometer.With the increase of the applied external uniaxial compressive pressure,the blue shift and splitting of the luminescence peaks were observed,which have some influence on the I-V curve of RTS from the point of view of the energy gap,and the splitting became more apparent with applied pressure.Full width at half maximum broadening could also be observed.     

A Small Signal Equivalent Circuit Model for Resonant Tunnelling Diode

We report a resonant tunnelling diode （RTD） small signal equivalent circuit model consisting of quantum capacitance and quantum inductance. The model is verified through the actual InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs RTD fabricated on an InP substrate. Model parameters are extracted by fitting the equivalent circuit model with ac measurement data in three different regions of RTD current-voltage （I-V） characteristics. The electron lifetime, representing the average time that the carriers remain in the quasibound states during the tunnelling process, is also calculated to be 2.09ps.     

Pressure effect study on the I－V property of the GaAs-based resonant tunnelling structure by photoluminescence measurement

This paper discusses the I-V property of the GaAs-based resonant tunnelling structure （RTS） under external uniaxial pressure by photoluminescence studies. Compressive pressure parallel to the [110] direction, whose value is determined by Hooke＇s law, is imposed on the sample by a helix micrometer. With the increase of the applied external uniaxial compressive pressure, the blue shift and splitting of the luminescence peaks were observed, which have some influence on the I-V curve of RTS from the point of view of the energy gap, and the splitting became more apparent with applied pressure. Full width at half maximum broadening could also be observed.     

Observation of the current－voltage plateau-like structure of resonant tunnelling diode with prewells under different magnetic fields

We have grown resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) with different sized emitter prewells and without a prewell. The current－voltage (I－V) characteristics of them in different magnetic fields were investigated. Two important phenomena were observed. First, a high magnetic field can destroy the plateau-like structure in the I－V curves of the RTD. This phenomenon is ascribed to the fact that the high magnetic field will demolish the coupling between the energy level in the main quantum well and that in the emitter quantum well or in the prewell. Secondly, the existence and size of the prewell are also important factors influencing the plateau-like structure.     

PLE spectra analysis of the sub-structure in the absorption spectra of CdSeS quantum dots

The semiconductor CdSeS quantum dots （QDs） embedded in glass are analysed by means of absorption spectra, photoluminescence （PL） spectra and photoluminescence excitation （PLE） spectra. The peaks of absorption spectra shift to lower energies with the size of QD increasing, which obviously shows a quantum-size effect. Using the PLE spectra, the physical origin of the lowest absorption peak is analysed. In PLE spectra, the lowest absorption peak can be deconvoluted into two peaks that stem from the transitions of 1S3/2-1Se and 2S3/2-1Se respectively. The measured energy difference between the two peaks is found to decrease with the size of QD increasing, which agrees well with the theoretical calculation for the two transitions. The luminescence peak of defect states is also analysed by PLE spectra. Two transitions are present in the PLE, which indicates that the transitions of 1S3/2 1Se and 2S3/2 1Se are responsible for the defect states luminescence.     

A New Resonant Tunnelling Structure of Integrated InGaAs/GaAs Very-Long-Wavelength Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector

We perform a theoretical study on a low dark current InGaAs/GaAs very-long-wavelength （〉 12 μm） quantum well infrared photodetector （VLW-QWIP）, based on a double barrier resonant tunnelling structure （DBRTS）. The ground tunnelling state of the central quantum well （QW） of the DBRTS can resonate with the first excited bound state of the doped InGaAs QW by adjusting the structure parameters of the DBRTS. Investigation of the carrier transport performance of this device is carried out based on quantum wave transport theory. It has been shown that the dark current in this device can be significantly reduced by two orders compared to conventional InGaAs/GaAs VLW-QWIPs, while the photocurrent is almost the same as those in conventional VLW-QWIPs. This DBRTS integrated VLW-QWIP structure may stimulate the experimental investigation for VLW-QWIPs at high operation temperatures.     

Electroluminescence model of bipolar resonant tunnelling diode

An electroluminescence model of a bipolar resonant tunnelling diode is carried out. The current is the sum of the electron and hole current. The electron and hole density at the resonant level of a quantum well are related to the electron and hole current, respectively. A radiative recombination rate formula is derived from the matrix element, electron and hole distribution. The results show that a large on-off ratio of light output can be achieved by the bipolar resonant tunnelling diode.     

Exciton tunnelling in ZnCdSe quantum well/CdSe quantum dots

Exciton tunnelling through a ZnSe barrier layer of various thicknesses is investigated in a Zn_0.72Cd_0.28Se/CdSe coupled quantum well/quantum dots (QW/QDs) structure using photoluminescence (PL) spectra and near resonant pump-probe technique. Fast exciton tunnelling from quantum well to quantum dots is observed by transient differential transmission. The tunnelling time is 1.8, 4.4 and 39 ps for barrier thickness of 10, 15 and 20 nm, respectively.     

Transient and Stationary Simulations for a Quantum Hydrodynamic Model

The transient and stationary characteristics of a one-dimensional quantum hydrodynamic model are comparatively studied for semiconductor charge transport in a resonant tunnelling diode. When the bias is not small, our numerical results show a deviation of the asymptotic transient solutions from the stationary ones. A dynamic instability accounts for such deviation. The stationary quantum hydrodynamic model is therefore unsuitable in general for simulating quantum devices.     

A geminate recombination model for photoluminescence decay in plasma-deposited amorphous Si:H

We develop a model of geminate electron-hole recombination, including tunnelling and diffusion, to account for photoluminescence decay in amorphous semiconductors. The model correctly predicts the shape of the decay, the luminescence quantum efficiency, and the microscopic electron mobility.     

Interwell excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum wells and their collective properties

Luminescence spectra of interwell excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum wells with electric-field-tilted bands (n-i-n) structures were studied. In these structures the electron and the hole in the interwell exciton are spatially separated between neighboring quantum wells by a narrow AlAs barrier. Under resonant excitation by circularly polarized light the luminescence line of the interwell excitons exhibited appreciable narrowing as their concentration increased and the degree of circular polarization of the photoluminescence increased substantially. Under resonant excitation by linearly polarized light the alignment of the interwell excitons increased as a threshold process with increasing optical pumping. By analyzing time-resolved spectra and the kinetics of the photoluminescence intensity under pulsed excitation it was established that under these conditions the rate of radiative recombination increases substantially. The observed effect occurs at below-critical temperatures and is interpreted in terms of the collective behavior of the interwell excitons. Studies of the luminescence spectra in a magnetic field showed that the collective exciton phase is dielectric and in this phase the interwell excitons retain their individual properties.     

Spin relaxation quenching in semiconductor quantum dots

We have studied the spin dynamics in self-organized InAs/GaAs quantum dots by time-resolved photoluminescence performed under strictly resonant excitation. At low temperature, we observe strictly no decay of both the linear and the circular luminescence polarization. This demonstrates that the carrier spins are totally frozen on the exciton lifetime scale.     

Resonant tunnelling in O-D systems

O-D energy spectroscopy by means of transport and magneto-transport measurements has been carried out in double barrier resonant tunnelling heterostructures. Two models for the fabrication imposed lateral confining potential have been considered to account for the resonant lines associated with tunnelling of electrons through the O-D states of the quantum well. Preliminary measurements in a magnetic field are consistent with the values of magnetic length and undepleted conducting core radius in our structure, and indicate that up to 6 T the energy spectrum is dominated by spatial quantization. Single-charging effects in our structures are discussed.