Influences of excitation power and temperature on photoluminescence in phase-separated InGaN quantum wells

The photoluminescence(PL) properties of a green and blue light-emitting InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well structure with a strong phase separated into quasi-quantum dots(QDs) and an InGaN matrix in the InGaN epilayer are investigated.The excitation power dependences of QD-related green emissions(P_D) and matrix-related blue emissions(P_M) in the low excitation power range of the PL peak energy and line-width indicate that at 6 K both P_m and P_D are dominated by the combined action of Coulomb screening and localized state filling effect.However,at 300 K,P_m is dominated by the non-radiative recombination of the carriers in the InGaN matrix,while P_D is influenced by the carriers transferred from the shallower QDs to deeper QDs by tunnelling.This is consistent with the excitation power dependence of the PL efficiency for the emission.     

载流子复合对时间分辨法拉第旋转光谱的影响

利用二能级体系速率方程,推导了半导体中探测光探测到的法拉第旋转光谱的理论模型,发现电子-空穴对的复合对法拉第旋转信号随时间的衰减有重要影响,并利用该模型对GaAs量子阱中实验测得的法拉第旋转光谱进行拟合,得到GaAs量子阱材料中的电子自旋弛豫时间为73.5 ps,而直接利用单指数进行拟合得到的电子自旋弛豫时间仅为51.3 ps. 因此,直接利用单指数对法拉第旋转光谱进行拟合得到电子自旋弛豫时间的传统做法是不准确的. 关键词： 自旋弛豫时间 时间分辨法拉第旋转光谱 GaAs量子阱     

Excitonic optical absorption in wurtzite InGaN/GaN quantum wells

Within the framework of the effective-mass and envelope function theory, exciton states and optical properties in wurtzite (WZ) InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are investigated theoretically considering the built-in electric field effects. Numerical results show that the built-in electric field, well width and in composition have obvious influences on exciton states and optical properties in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs. The built-in electric field caused by polarizations leads to a remarkable reduction of the ground-state exciton binding energy, the interband transition energy and the integrated absorption probability in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any well width and In composition. In particular, the integrated absorption probability is zero in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any In composition and well width L > 4 nm. In addition, the competition effects between quantum confinement and the built-in electric field (between quantum size and the built-in electric field) on exciton states and optical properties have also been investigated.     

Photoexcited carrier dynamics in aligned InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown on strain-relaxed InGaAs layers

Carrier dynamics in aligned InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on cross-hatched patterns induced by metastable In_xGa_1−xAs layers have been studied by time-resolved photoluminescence. The low-temperature carrier lifetimes were found to be of the order of 100–200 ps and determined by carrier trapping and nonradiative recombination. Comparisons with control “nonaligned” InAs QDs show remarkable differences in dependence of peak PL intensities on excitation power, and in PL decay times dependences on both temperature and excitation intensities. Possible origin of traps, which determine the carrier lifetimes, is discussed.     

Enhanced carrier injection in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells LED with polarization-induced electron blocking barrier

In this report, we designed a light emitting diode (LED) structure in which an N-polar p-GaN layer is grown on top of Ga-polar In_0.1Ga_0.9N/GaN quantum wells (QWs) on an n-GaN layer. Numerical simulation reveals that the large polarization field at the polarity inversion interface induces a potential barrier in the conduction band, which can block electron overflow out of the QWs. Compared with a conventional LED structure with an Al_0.2Ga_0.8N electron blocking layer (EBL), the proposed LED structure shows much lower electron current leakage, higher hole injection, and a significant improvement in the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). These results suggest that the polarization induced barrier (PIB) is more effective than the AlGaN EBL in suppressing electron overflow and improving hole transport in GaN-based LEDs.     

InGaN/GaN多量子阱的组分确定和晶格常数计算

采用金属有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)技术以蓝宝石为衬底在n型GaN单晶层上生长了InGaN/GaN多量子阱结构外延薄膜，利用高分辨X射线衍射(HRXRD)，卢瑟福背散射/沟道(RBS/channeling)，以及光致发光(PL)技术对InGaN/GaN多量子阱结构薄膜分别进行了平均晶格常数计算、In原子替位率计算和In组分的定量分析.研究表明：InGaN/GaN多量子阱的水平和垂直方向平均晶格常数分别为a_epi=0.3195nm，c_epi=0.5198nm，In原子的替位率为99.3%，利用HRXRD和RBS/channeling两种分析技术计算In的组分分别是0.023和0.026，并与样品生长时设定的预期目标相符合，验证了两种实验方法的准确性；而用室温条件下的光致发光谱(PL)来计算InGaN/GaN多量子阱中In的组分是与HRXRD和RBS/channeling的实验结果相差很大，说明用PL测试In组分的方法是不适宜的. 关键词： InGaN/GaN多量子阱 高分辨X射线衍射 卢瑟福背散射/沟道 光致发光     

Temperature‐dependent emission shift and carrier dynamics in deep ultraviolet AlGaN/AlGaN quantum wells

Radiative and nonradiative processes in deep ultraviolet (DUV) AlGaN/AlGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown by LP‐MOCVD have been studied by means of deep ultraviolet time‐integrated photoluminescence (PL) and time‐resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy. As the temperature is increased, the peak energy of DUV‐AlGaN/AlGaN MQWs PL emission (E_p) exhibits a similarly anti‐S‐shaped behavior (blueshift – accelerated redshift – decelerated redshift): E_p increases in the temperature range of 5.9–20 K and decreases for 20–300 K, involving an accelerated redshift for 20–150 K and an opposite decelerated redshift for 150–300 K with temperature increase. Especially at high temperature as 300 K, the slope of the E_p redshift tends towards zero. This temperature‐induced PL shift is strongly affected by the change in carrier dynamics with increasing temperature. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Two-photon absorption from single InGaN/GaN quantum dots

We present a study of the time-integrated and time-resolved photoluminescence properties of single-InGaN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) using two-photon spectroscopy. Two samples containing QDs produced by different growth techniques are examined. We find that two-photon excitation results in the suppression of the emission from the underlying quantum well to which the QDs are coupled and yet relatively strong QD emission is observed. This effect is explained in terms of the enhancement of two-photon absorption in QDs due to the full confinement of carriers. Furthermore, evidence of the presence of excited states is revealed from the two-photon photoluminescence excitation spectra presented in the study.     

Phonon heating of two-dimensional exciton gases in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

We report the first measurements of the interaction of non-equilibrium phonons with two-dimensional exciton gases (2DExGs). The rise in the effective temperature of the 2DExG produced by the phonons depends on the width of the quantum well and the exciton sheet density and hence on the ratio τ^?1 (ex-ph)/τ^?1 (ex-ex). The dependence of the effective temperature rise on this ratio is attributed to the non-equilibrium frequency distribution of the phonons incident on the 2DExG.     

Trions in quantum wells

An overview is given of our investigation of the energy levels and of the correlation functions of the negatively and positively charged excitons (also called trions) in quantum wells in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. A detailed comparison is made with available experimental data in III–V and II–VI semiconductor quantum wells.     

Intersubband absorption in highly photoexcited semiconductor quantum wells

Transient mid infrared (MIR) absorption spectroscopy is used to investigate transitions between higher electronic subbands in semiconductor quantum well (QW) structures after interband photoexcitation with intense picosecond pulses in the visible spectral range. Our investigation focuses on the e₂–e₃ intersubband transition in an asymmetric undoped GaAs/AlGaAs QW structure. At an injected nonequilibrium carrier density of 1×10¹³ cm⁻²/QW, an e₂–e₃ absorption band at 99 meV with a spectral width of 5 meV is found. For a higher density studied, 3×10¹³ cm⁻²/QW, the band is broadened and blueshifted by 30 meV. Intersubband absorption signals are distinguished from free-carrier absorption signals in the MIR by their characteristic time behavior.     

Radiative recombination of indirect exciton in type-II ZnSeTe/ZnSe multiple quantum wells

The tunability of the emission energy, oscillator strength and photoluminescence (PL) efficiency by varying the well thickness and excitation density was demonstrated in the ZnSe_0.8Te_0.2/ZnSe multiple quantum wells. A significant blueshift about 260 meV of the PL peak energy was observed as the well width decreased from 5 to 1 nm. An extraordinary long lifetime (300 ns) of the recombination for the widest sample was detected. The binding energy of the indirect excitons is determined as 12 meV for the thinnest sample. The reduction of PL efficiency by thermal energy is greatly suppressed by employing a high excitation power.     

Dynamics of single InGaN quantum dots

Decay dynamics for single InGaN quantum dots are presented using time-resolved photoluminescence. The recombination is shown to be characterized by a single exponential decay, in contrast to the non-exponential recombination dynamics seen in the 2D wetting layer. The lifetimes of single dots in the temperature range 4–60 K decrease with increasing temperature. Different dots show similar lifetimes of 2 ns.     

Blue luminescence from the InGaN multiple quantum wells

We have fabricated very high-quality In_0.13Ga_0.87N/GaN multiple quantum wells with thickness as small as on (0 0 0 1) sapphire substrate using metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). We have investigated these ultra-thin multiple quantum wells by continuous wave (cw) and time resolved spectroscopy in the picosecond time scales in a wide range of temperatures from 10 K to 290 K. In the luminescence spectrum at 10 K we observed a broad peak at 3.134 eV which was attributed to the quantum wells emission of InGaN. The full-width at half-maximum of this peak was 129 meV at 10 K and the broadening at low temperatures which was mostly inhomogeneous was thought to be due to compositional fluctuations and interfacial disorder in the alloy. The ultra narrow width of the quantum well was found to have a very profound effect in increasing the emission linewidth. We also observed an intense and narrow peak at 3.471 eV due to the GaN barrier. The temperature dependence of the luminescence was studied. The peak positions and intensities of the different peaks were obtained after a careful Lorentzian analysis. The activation energy of the InGaN quantum well emission peak was estimated as 69 meV. The lifetime of the quantum well emission was found to be 720 ps at 10 K. The results were explained by considering the localization of the excitons due to potential fluctuations. At higher temperatures the non-radiative recombination was found to be very dominant.     

Electron spin relaxation in very diluted CdMnTe quantum wells

Electron spin dephasing is studied by time-resolved Kerr rotation in n-type modulation-doped CdMnTe quantum wells with very dilute Mn content. We find good agreement between measured and calculated electron spin relaxation times, considering relaxation induced by fluctuating exchange field created by the Mn spins, and taking into account inhomogeneous heating of the Mn spins by laser pulses.     

Localized exciton dynamics in InGaN quantum well structures

InGaN multiple quantum well laser diode (LD) wafer that lased at 400 nm was shown to have the InN mole fraction, x, of only 6% in the wells. Nanometer-probe compositional analysis showed that the fluctuation of x was as small as 1% or less, which is the resolution limit. However, the wells exhibited a Stokes-like shift (SS) of 49 meV and an effective localization depth E₀ was estimated by time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurement to be 35 meV at 300 K. Since the effective electric field due to polarization in the wells is estimated to be as small as 286 kV/cm, SS is considered to originate from an effective bandgap inhomogeneity. Because the well thickness fluctuation was insufficient to produce SS or E₀, the exciton localization is considered to be an intrinsic phenomenon in InGaN material. Indeed, bulk cubic In_0.1Ga_0.9N, which does not suffer any polarization field or thickness fluctuation effect, exhibited an SS of 140 meV at 77 K and similar TRPL results. The origin of the localization is considered to be due to the large bandgap bowing and In clustering in InGaN material. Such shallow and low density localized states are leveled by injecting high density carriers under the lasing conditions for the 400 nm LDs.     

Effects of a prestrained InGaN interlayer on the emission properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells in a laser diode structure

The electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with a prestrained InGaN interlayer in a laser diode structure are investigated. When the injection current increases from 5 mA to 50 mA, the blueshift of the EL emission peak is 1 meV for the prestrained sample and 23 meV for a control sample with the conventional structure. Also, the internal quantum efficiency and the EL intensity at the injection current of 20 mA are increased by 71% and 65% respectively by inserting the prestrained InGaN interlayer. The reduced blueshift and the enhanced emission are attributed mainly to the reduced quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in the prestrained sample. Such attributions are supported by the theoretical simulation results, which reveal the smaller piezoelectric field and the enhanced overlap of electron and hole wave functions in the prestrained sample. Therefore, the prestrained InGaN interlayer contributes to strain relaxation in the MQW layer and enhancement of light emission due to the reduction of QCSE.     

Interface characterization and indium content of indium-rich quantum dots in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

We report on the interface characterization of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells with indium aggregation grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The interface related microstructure was analyzed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction and high angle annular dark field. Luminescence measurements were carried out by micro-photoluminescence measurement. In addition, quantitative determination of the indium concentration inside the ultra-small dots was attempted. We demonstrate that the quantum dots are coherent and the interfaces remain sharp. The In content inside ∼2 nm InGaN dots is about 65% determined by spectrum imaging in energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy combined with multiple linear least squares fitting, which is slighter higher than the value obtained either from HRTEM or theoretical calculations. This discrepancy is briefly discussed but demands further studies for complete understanding.     

Parameter-dependent resonant third-order susceptibility contributed by inter-band transitions in quantum wells

The resonance enhancement of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ⁽³⁾ for degenerated four-wave mixing, due to the transition between valence band and conduction band, in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells have been calculated. The band structures of valence bands and conduction bands and the wave functions are calculated by the theory of effective mass. The contributions of the subbands of holes (heavy holes, light holes and the spin-orbit split-off bands) to χ⁽³⁾ in the different directions are discussed. The correlations between χ⁽³⁾ in the different directions and the width of the quantum wells, and the constituents of the quantum wells are obtained.     

Analysis of localization effect in blue-violet light emitting InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells with different well widths

Four blue-violet light emitting InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well(MQW) structures with different well widths are grown by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition. The carrier localization effect in these samples is investigated mainly by temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements. It is found that the localization effect is enhanced as the well width increases from 1.8 nm to 3.6 nm in our experiments. The temperature induced PL peak blueshift and linewidth variation increase with increasing well width, implying that a greater amplitude of potential fluctuation as well as more localization states exist in wider wells. In addition, it is noted that the broadening of the PL spectra always occurs mainly on the low-energy side of the PL spectra due to the temperature-induced band-gap shrinkage, while in the case of the widest well, a large extension of the spectral curve also occurs in the high energy sides due to the existence of more shallow localized centers.