Manganese-related luminescence in GaInAs/AlInAs multiple quantum wells grown on InP by molecular beam epitaxy

Two Mn-related luminescence peaks have been observed in a series of nominally undoped Ga_0.47In_0.53As/Al_0.48In_0.52As multiple quantum wells (MQW) grown lattice-matched on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. These two peaks correspond to on-center and on-edge impurity states, respectively. The origin of the Mn impurities is outdiffusion from the Fe-doped semiinsulating InP substrate into the epitaxial layer. The binding energy of Mn acceptors, determined to be 53±3 meV in bulk-like Ga_0.47In_0.53As, increases to 80±5 meV for the on-center Mn state in a 58 Å MQW. The strong well-width dependence of the binding energy is explained in terms of the unique behavior of the Mn impurity in III–V semiconductors. The Mn in Ga_0.47In_0.53As and Ga_0.47In_0.53As/Al_0.48In_0.52As MQWs behaves predominantly as a deep impurity.On leave from: A. F. Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute, Leningrad, USSR     

Advantages of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well solar cells with stepped-thickness quantum wells

InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cells with stepped-thickness quantum wells (SQW) are designed and grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The stepped-thickness quantum wells structure, in which the well thickness becomes smaller and smaller along the growth direction, reveals better crystalline quality and better spectral overlap with the solar spectrum. Consequently, the short-circuit current density (Jsc) and conversion efficiency of the solar cell are enhanced by 27.12% and 56.41% compared with the conventional structure under illumination of AM1.5G (100 mW/cm2). In addition, approaches to further promote the performance of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well solar cells are discussed and presented.     

Erbium-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by an InGaAs/InP multiple quantum well saturable absorber

We report on the behavior of an erbium-doped fiber laser passively Q-switched by an InGaAs/InP multiple quantum well semiconductor saturable absorber. The fiber is moderately doped in erbium ions. The saturable absorber consists of 40 periods of InGaAs (8.5 nm)/InP (10 nm) grown on an InP substrate. The laser efficiency is nonlinear under Q-switch regime and unusual temporal pulse shapes with rising times lower than decay times are observed around threshold. Pulse duration is around the microsecond range. Simple arguments based on a rate-equations approach are proposed in order to explain our results. They are justified a posteriori via numerical integration of the equations. The variation of threshold level versus spectroscopic parameters has been determined and that makes a guideline for generalizing our discussion.     

Carrier transport and its effect on the turn-on delay time in strained GalnAsP/InP multiple quantum well lasers

The effects of carrier transport on turn-on delay time in multiple quantum well lasers were investigated both theoretically and experimentally. By using rate equation analysis with two components of the carrier density inside and outside of the quantum wells, we found that carrier transport caused two important effects: one is the stationary effect of a significant reduction in carrier density in quantum wells; the other is an increase in differential carrier lifetime.As an experimental investigation, compressively strained 1.3 m GalnAsP/InP multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers were fabricated and their turn-on delay times were measured and investigated. The short-cavity buried-heterostructure lasers showed low-threshold current (2 to 3 mA) and small turn-on delay time (<200 ps) at biasless 30 mA pulse current. Although these performances are suitable for high-speed digital transmission, it was found that the carrier lifetimes derived from the turn-on delay measurement were larger for strained quantum well lasers than for conventional quantum well lasers and double heterostructure lasers. These phenomena are explained using the carrier transport model and are discussed. The solutions for further reduction in carrier lifetime and turn-on delay are discussed.     

Temperature tuning of the Bragg resonance of InAsP/InP Bragg-spaced quantum wells grown by MOCVD

In this article, we presented a study of InAs_0.04P_0.96/InP Bragg-spaced quantum wells (BSQWs), which were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The quantum wells were characterized by photoluminescence (PL), double-crystal x-ray diffraction (DC-XRD), and reflection spectra. We found that the BSQWs structure grown at 580 °C appears to be extremely abrupt, uniform, free of misfit dislocations, and of narrow PL line width. From the reflection spectra at different temperatures, we presented a theoretical analysis of the changes in band structure for resonant and near-resonant wells, and proposed a new scheme of using the temperature to tune the Bragg resonance of Bragg spaced quantum wells.     

Fabrication of an electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback laser by quantum well intermixing with etching ion-implantation buffer layer

We report the fabrication details of a monolithically integrated electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback laser(EML) based on the ion-implantation induced quantum well intermixing(QWI) technique.To well-preserve material quality in the laser region, thermal-oxide Si O2 is deposited before implantation and the ion-implantation buffer layer is etched before annealing. Thirteen pairs quantum well and barrier are employed to compensate deterioration of the modulator's extinction ratio(ER) caused by the QWI process.The fabricated EML exhibits an 18 d B static ER at 5 V reverse bias. The 3 d B small signal modulation bandwidth of modulator is over 13.5 GHz indicating that this EML is a suitable light source for over 16 Gb/s optical transmission links.     

Growth of strain-compensated InGaAs/GaAsP multiple quantum wells by MOVPE

InGaAs/GaAsP strain-compensated multiple quantum wells (SCMQWs) and strained InGaAs/GaAsmultiple quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on GaAs substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy(MOVPE). The results of double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) revealed that strain relief had beenpartly accommodated by the misfit dislocation formation in the strained MQW material. It led to thatthe full width half maximums (FWHMs) of superlattice satellite peaks are broader than those of SCMQWstructures, and there was no detectable room temperature photoluminecence(RT-PL)for the strained     

Second-harmonic spectroscopy of electronic structure of Si/SiO2 multiple quantum wells

Size effects in the resonant nonlinear optical response of amorphous Si/SiO₂ multiple quantum wells (MQW) are studied by second-harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy in a spectral interval of second-harmonic photon energies from 2.5 to 3.4 eV. The sensitivity of SHG spectroscopy to thickness-dependent electronic structure (sub-band energy position and density of states line shape) of MQW is demonstrated. A monotonic red shift of central energies of SHG resonances by 120 m eV upon increase of the well thickness from 2.5 to 10 ? is observed. This is interpreted as a size dependence of the position of singularities in the combined density of states for a 2D gas of electrons moving in an effective potential well. It is shown that, for agreement with experiment, the simplest (rectangular) shape of the well should be modified in order to take into account the lattice-potential distortion at the interfaces. Received: 16 October 2001 / Revised version: 16 April 2002 / Published online: 6 June 2002     

Spatial and temporal plasma inhomogeneity effects on the luminescence of highly excited GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well structures

Summary The effects on the luminescence lineshape of the spatial and temporal inhomogeneities of the electron-hole plasma generated by strong laser pulses in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well structures are experimentally investigated. It is found that inhomogeneities strongly affect the luminescence spectra and must be taken into account for a correct interpretation of the experimental data. The lineshape of the luminescence spectra is analysed using a statistical model that includes, in a simple way, the spatial and temporal inhomogeneities of the laser pulses used for excitation. A fair agreement is obtained with the experimental data; at the same time the values of the fit parameters turn out to be rather sensitive to the model assumed for describing the inhomogeneities. Therefore, caution has to be used when inferring plasma properties, such as the carrier density and temperature, from a lineshape analysis.

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Riassunto Si presenta, in questo lavoro, uno studio sperimentale degli effetti delle disomogeneità spaziali e temporali nei plasmi di elettroni e lacune generati da impulsi laser potenti in strutture a buche quantiche di GaAs/AlGaAs. Si trova che tali disomogeneità modificano fortemente gli spettri di fotoluminescenza e devono quindi essere considerate per una corretta interpretazione dei dati sperimentali. La forma di riga degli spettri di luminescenza viene analizzata mediante un modello statistico che include, in modo semplice, le disomogeneità spaziali e temporali degli impulsi laser usati per l’eccitazione. Si ottiene un accordo soddisfacente con i dati sperimentali e si trova che i valori dei parametri ottenuti dal fit dipendono in modo sensibile dal modello assunto per la descrizione delle disomogeneità. Grande cautela deve essere quindi usata nel dedurre le proprietà del plasma fotogenerato a partire da una analisi delle forme di riga.

     

Hydrostatic pressure effect on the donor impurity states in asymmetric multiple quantum wells

Based on the effective-mass approximation, hydrostatic pressure effect on the donor binding energy in zinc blende (ZB) InGaN/GaN asymmetric multiple quantum wells (AMQWs) is investigated variationally. Numerical results show that the hydrostatic pressure increases the donor binding energy for any impurity position. Moreover, the hydrostatic pressure effect is more noticeable if the impurity is localized inside the wide well of the AMQWs. For any hydrostatic pressure, the donor binding energy is distributed asymmetrically with respect to the center of the AMQWs. In particular, the donor binding energy of impurity located at the center of the wide well of the AMQWs is insensitive to the increment of the inter-well barrier width if the inter-well barrier width is large.     

Effects of quantum confined stark effect and well thickness on optical properties of double quantum wells violet InGaN laser diodes

The effects of quantum confined stark effect (QCSE) and quantum well (QW) thickness on the optical properties of violet InGaN laser diodes (LDs) have numerically been investigated. The simulation results indicated that the QCSE greatly effects the optical properties of LDs, where QCSE relates to the QW thickness and it increases when the QW thickness is wider which leads to deteriorating of the optical proprieties of the violet InGaN LD. The polarization in the active region of the InGaN LD has been estimated by the blue shift of the wavelength and it is found that the blue shift of the wavelength depends on the QW thickness. The major simulation result has shown that the best properties of violet InGaN LD can be obtained with smaller QW thickness, where more carriers can be restricted, stayed and overlapped inside the QW which leads to a larger stimulated recombination rate and optical material gain which in turn increase the output power of the LD; while decreasing the threshold current of the LD.     

Studies on surface graft polymerization of acrylic acid onto PTFE film by remote argon plasma initiation

The graft polymerization of acrylic acid (AAc) was carried out onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) films that had been pretreated with remote argon plasma and subsequently exposed to oxygen to create peroxides. Peroxides are known to be the species responsible for initiating the graft polymerization when PTFE reacts with AAc. We chose different parameters of remote plasma treatment to get the optimum condition for introducing maximum peroxides (2.87 × 10⁻¹¹ mol/cm²) on the surface. The influence of grafted reaction conditions on the grafting degree was investigated. The maximum grafting degree was 25.2 μg/cm². The surface microstructures and compositions of the AAc grafted PTFE film were characterized with the water contact angle meter, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Contact angle measurements revealed that the water contact angle decreased from 108° to 41° and the surface free energy increased from 22.1 × 10⁻⁵ to 62.1 × 10⁻⁵ N cm⁻¹ by the grafting of the AAc chains. The hydrophilicity of the PTFE film surface was greatly enhanced. The time-dependent activity of the grafted surface was better than that of the plasma treated film.     

Interband transitions from the photoreflectance of GaSb/AlSb multiple quantum wells

We have measured the photoreflectance spectra at 77K of two GaSb/AlSb multiple quantum wells. Excellent quantitative agreement has been obtained between the experimental data and a theoretical calculation of inter-subband energies at Λ (GaSb). This agreement extends over the entire energy range where the hole states are confined and the electron states are below the X conduction band minimum of AlSb. This has made it possible to determine a conduction band offset parameter of 0.85 ± 0.08 (before strain) and the strain distribution. Deviations from the agreement beyond this energy range provide evidence for the mixing of the Λ-X states.     

Analysis of coupling effect on valence band structures of strained multiple quantum wells

The multi-well energy representation technique is presented for the analysis of the valence band structures of multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers. In terms of this technique and its relative formulae, calculations are performed for InGaAs/InGaAsP strained MQW structures. It is found that the coupling exists between the wells, and causes the energy split. So, on the basis of the computed results, the coupling between the wells is analysed, and the split of both the quantized energy levels at the Γ point and the quantized energy bands at the non-Γ points is described. It is also found that the structural parameters of the MQW system strongly influence the coupling property and the energy split, and hence these effects are also discussed in relation to the periodic length, the well width, the distance between the wells, and the ratio of the well width to the periodic length. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.