Effect of free electron-hole pairs on the saturation of excitonic absorption in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The pump-probe experimental method is used to investigate the effect of photoexcited carriers on the dynamics of the exciton absorption spectra of GaAs / Al_xGa_1–x As-multilayer quantum wells. Use of the method of moment analysis for processing the results makes it possible to identify the simultaneous contribution of changes in oscillator strength and width of the exciton lines in the saturation of exciton absorption. It was found that the oscillator strength recovers its initial value in the course of the first 100–130 ps, whereas broadening and energy-shift of the exciton lines is observed for 700–800 ps. These are the first experimental measurements of the excitation densities at which the oscillator strength of the excitonic state saturates when the latter is perturbed only by free-electron-hole pairs, and when it is perturbed only by other excitons. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1130–1133 (June 1998)     

Phonon-assisted radiative electron-hole recombination in silicon quantum dots

The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of silicon quantum dots (QDs) is studied both theoretically and experimentally, and the time of the corresponding electron-hole radiative recombination is calculated. The dependence of the recombination time on the QD size is discussed. The experiment shows that the PL intensity decreases by approximately 60% as the temperature increases from 77 to 293 K. The calculated characteristic recombination time has only a weak temperature dependence; therefore, the decrease in the PL intensity is associated primarily with nonradiative transitions. It is also shown that the phonon-assisted radiation is much more efficient than the zero-phonon emission. Moreover, the zero-phonon recombination time depends on the QD radius R as R⁸, whereas the phonon-assisted recombination time depends on this radius as R³.     

Field-induced lifetime enhancement and ionization of excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Picosecond and nanosecond luminescence studies of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells exposed to electric fields perpendicular to the layers are reported. The drastic red-shift of the photoluminescence with the electric field strength is accompanied by a strong increase of the electron-hole recombination lifetime. These features are most dominant for the wider wells due to the stronger polarization of the confined electron-hole pairs. Our observations are consistent with the model of the Quantum-Confined Stark Effect. In contrast, for high fields in the regime of ∼100 kV/cm field ionization limits the confinement of electrons and holes and leads to a strong decrease of the photoluminescence yield and lifetime with increasing field strength.     

Electron-hole plasma in pulse photoexcited single quantum wells

We report photoluminescence studies of MOCVD grown, GaAsAl_xGa_1?xAs single quantum wells which were intensly excited with a pulse dye laser at T=2K. For a well width of d～40Å, the spectra are interpreted as due to the radiative recombination of a hot electron-hole plasma confined to the well. The density of charge carriers and their temperature depend upon the excitation intensity, and vary in the range of 10¹¹–10¹³ cm^?2 and 100–500K for an absorbed photon flux of 10¹³–10¹⁶ photons-cm^?2 per pulse, respectively. The observed spectral features are identified as the e1-hh1 and e1-lh1 transitions and two additional bands which are tentatively assigned to transitions involving virtual bound states of either the electron or the hole. The electron-hole plasma spectra of the d～40Å sample are strongly polarized perpendicular to the well quantization axis. For wider wells (d～80 and 150Å) smaller photoexcited carrier densities were observed for the same absorbed photon flux. It is thus concluded that the capture efficiency of the well is small.     

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.