Picosecond carrier relaxation in type-II ZnSe/BeTe heterostructures

Relaxation of photoexcited carriers in the course of the formation of spatially separated layers of electrons and holes in type-II ZnSe/BeTe heterostructures has been studied based on a high time resolution investigation of fast luminescence kinetics. The hole escape times τ from the ZnSe layer have been measured in structures with different ZnSe layer thicknesses (τ = 2.5, 7.5, and 23 ps for thicknesses d = 10, 15, and 20 nm, respectively). It is shown that the increase in the time τ can be explained by the fact that the escape rate of photoexcited holes from the lowest above-barrier level in the ZnSe layer into the BeTe layer decreases as the thickness of the ZnSe layer increases.     

Acoustic,optical, and interface phonons in BeTe/ZnSe superlattices

Raman scattering in a number of BeTe/ZnSe type-II superlattices which share no common cations or anions in the interfaces was studied. Folded acoustic phonons; LO phonons of the first, second, and third order in the ZnSe layers; and Kliewer-Fuchs-type electrostatic interface phonons were observed when excited in resonance with the direct exciton transition in the ZnSe layers. Nonresonant excitation produced LO phonons in the ZnSe and BeTe layers and a high-frequency mechanical interface mode, assigned tentatively to a local vibration of the interface Be-Se bond.     

Electron tunneling effects on radiative recombination in modulation n-doped ZnSe/BeTe type-II quantum wells

We have studied the cyclotron-resonance absorption and photoluminescence properties of the modulation n-doped ZnSe/BeTe/ZnSe type-II quantum wells.It is shown that only the doped sample shows electron cyclotron-resonance absorption.Also,the undoped sample shows two distinctive peaks in the spatially indirect photoluminescence spectra,and the doped one shows only one peak.The results reveal that the high concentration electrons accumulated in ZnSe quantum well layers from n-doped layers can tunnel through BeTe barrier from one well layer to the other.The electron concentration difference between these two well layers originating from the tunneling results in a new additional electric field,and can cancel out a built-in electric field as observed in the undoped structures.     

Near-infrared intersubband absorption in (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe type-II super-lattices grown on GaAs substrate by MBE

We study the dependence of absorption wavelength on the well width in the (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe super-lattices(SL). With well-width reduction, the wavelength decreases from 1.795 to 1.57 μm. Structural properties, strain state and interface composition are determined via XRD measurement. A (CdS/ZnSe)/Be_xMg_1−xTe structure is prepared and XRD reveals the average lattice constant match to GaAs substrate. TEM reveals that numerous stacking faults exist in the (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe structure, and stacking faults are completely suppressed in (CdS/ZnSe)/Be_xMg_1−xTe SLs. Intersubband transition down to 1.535–1.55 μm have been observed in SLs.     

Optical anisotropy of surface-emitting ZnSe/BeTe LEDs

The electric field-induced in-plane optical anisotropy (Pockels effect) of ZnSe/BeTe multi-layered heterostructures has been studied by analysing the linear polarization of the spatially indirect photoluminescence. A pronounced quantum-confined Pockels effect was found in ZnSe/BeTe double-barrier structures. A tight-binding model is proposed which consistently interprets the experimental findings and suggests a new mechanism for the effect as realized in type-II heterostructures. The model takes into account that the ZnSe/BeTe heterosystem exhibits a type-II band alignment with large band offsets and that in the zinc-blende lattice the chemical bonds are oriented in 〈111〉 directions and, when shifted along the [001] principal axis, alternatively change their orientation in the (001) plane from [1 1 0] to [110] and vice versa. A light-emitting diode based on a single ZnSe/BeTe interface is demonstrated.     

Tamm interface states in ZnSe/BeTe periodic heterostructures

The spectral response of the lateral optical anisotropy of periodic undoped type-II ZnSe/BeTe heterostructures with nonequivalent interfaces was studied by ellipsometry. The spectra revealed two types of features corresponding to optical transitions with energies lying in the bandgap. The position of features of the first type does not depend on the heterostructure period. Features of the second type shift toward lower energies with decreasing period of the heterostructure. This behavior is explained in terms of a model taking into account the existence of electronic and hole interface states and of a mixed-type interface state.     

Identification of zone boundary and interface phonon recombinations in photoluminescence from type-II GaAs/AlAs short-period superlattices

We present the first identification of the direct participation of the GaAs interface (IF) mode in the phonon-assisted recombinations from type-II GaAs/AlAs short-period superlattices (SPSL). This is achieved by utilizing a novel first-order resonant Raman process associated with the type-II X_z–Γ band gap to enable a direct comparison, in the same sample, of zone boundary phonons with the photoluminescence (PL) phonon satellite energies. We present PL measurements on two complementary SPSLs to identify the reversal in the parity of the GaAs IF branch, where coupling is only allowed to the IF(+) branch. We also identify weak satellites, not previously reported, between the IF(+) and LA(X) satellites.     

The photoluminescence of ZnSe bulk single crystals excited by femtosecond pulse

This paper reports on the photoluminescence spectra of ZnSe single crystal with trace chlorine excited by the femtosecond laser pulse. Three emission bands, including second-harmonic-generation, two-photon-excited peak and a broad band at 500--700nm, were detected. The thermal strain induced by femtosecond pulse strongly influences the photoluminescence of ZnSe crystal. The corresponding strain \va in ZnSe crystal is estimated to be about 8.8 \ti10^-3 at room temperature. The zinc-vacancy, as the main point defect induced by femtosecond pulse, is successfully used to interpret the broad emission at 500--700nm. The research shows that self-activated luminescence possesses the recombination mechanism of donor--vacancy pair, and it is also influenced by a few selenium defects and the temperature. The rapid decrease in photoluminescence intensity of two-photon-excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation emission at lower temperature is attributed to the fact that more point defects result in the thermal activation of the two-photo-absorption energy converting to the stronger recombination emission of chlorine--zinc vacancy in 500--700nm. The experimental results indicate that the femtosecond exciting photoluminescence shows a completely different emission mechanism to that of He--Cd exciting luminescence in ZnSe single crystal. The femtosecond laser exhibits a higher sensitive to the impurity in crystal materials, which can be recommended as an efficient way to estimate the trace impurity in high quality crystals.     

Donor-acceptor recombination in type-II GaAs/AlAs superlattices

A study is reported of steady-and nonsteady-state photoluminescence of intentionally undoped and uniformly silicon-doped type-II (GaAs)₇(AlAs)₉ superlattices grown by MBE simultaneously on (311)A-and (100)-oriented GaAs substrates. It has been established that at elevated temperatures (160>T>30 K) the superlattice spectra are dominated by the line due to the donor-acceptor recombination between donors in the AlAs layers and acceptors located in the GaAs layers. The total carrier binding energy to the donor and acceptor in a pair has been determined. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1734–1739 (September 1998)     

Excitonic molecules in type-II superlattices

Excitonic molecules in GaAs/AlAs type-II superlattices are numerically investigated. In spite of large difference of electronic structures between type-II and type-I superlattices, variational calculations show that the configuration of particles is similar to that in type-I superlattices. This is because the layer width is smaller than the extent of excitonic wavefunctions in the direction parallel to the layers in the present superlattices.     

Temperature-induced delocalization of excitations in GaAs/AlAs type-II superlattices

This paper describes investigations of the photoluminescence spectra of heterostructures containing short-period type-II GaAs/AlAs superlattices grown both within the regime where the heterojunction is smoothed, and in a regime where it is not smoothed, in the temperature range 10–40 K. A quantitative analysis of the experimental data shows that the quenching of exciton luninescence in the majority of cases is characterized by a single value of the activation energy E ₂=8±1 meV which coincides with the value of the binding energy of an X-Γ exciton. It is concluded that the primary reason for quenching in this temperature interval is thermal dissociation of the exciton into a pair of free carriers whose delocalization is accompanied by nonradiative recombination at traps. It is observed that smoothing the heterojunction leads to an increase in the probability of quenching by 1–2 orders of magnitude on the average. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1140–1146 (June 1998)     

Electronic properties of intersubband transition in (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe quantum wells

In view of the fact that the bandwidth required in optical fiber communication systems will exceed 100 Gb s^-1, ultrafast optical switching and modulation devices with high efficiency must be developed. Given that intersubband transitions (ISBT) in quantum wells (QWs) are one of the important ultrafast phenomena, a numerical study of intersubband transition (ISBT) properties in (CdS/ZnSe)/BeTe QWs is considered. The structure modeled consists of a few monolayers of CdS embedded in a ZnSe/BeTe QW. A self-consistent analysis is made to achieve the desired properties and device applications. Variation of CdS well thickness leads to tailoring of the band alignment, achieving optical transitions in the wavelength range of 1.33–1.55 μm wavelengths for applications in optical fiber transmission. To analyze the optical behavior of the heterostructure under investigation, we have calculated the CdS well thickness-dependant oscillator strengths and electron emission energy of the intersubband transition between the two first states in the well. An attempt to explain our results will be presented.     

Excitonic processes and lasing in ZnSSe/ZnSe superlattices

We report the results of a systematic investigation of the stimulated emission in ZnSSe/ZnSe superlattices, by time resolved luminescence and high excitation intensity magaetoluminescence. The stimulated emission is found to have excitation origin from localized states around the thresold, and free-carrier origin at carrier densities well above the phase space filling thresold of the exciton.