Ionization of deep quantum wells: Optical trampoline effect

A new mechanism of transitions of an electronic system from the ground state to states with excitation energies exceeding many times the energy of a light photon initiating the transitions has been considered. This mechanism is based on the so-called optical “trampoline” effect: one of the interacting electrons receives energy from another electron and, simultaneously absorbing a photon ?ω, overcomes the energy gap significantly exceeding ?ω. Ionization of deep quantum wells by low-frequency light of moderate intensity due to the optical trampoline effect was calculated.     

Interference of polariton waves in structures with wide GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The optical reflection spectra of semiconductor GaAs/AlGaAs structures with wide quantum wells are studied experimentally. A theoretical analysis of the spectra is performed in terms of the exciton-polariton model in the approximation of quantum confinement of the exciton center of mass with regard to the contributions of both heavy and light excitons to the crystal polarization. The applicability range of the theory of the center-of-mass confinement for GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures is estimated. It is established that, for quantum wells more than 180 nm wide, the interference effects observed in the reflection spectra of polariton waves are reproduced, to a good accuracy, by theoretical calculations based on the quantum confinement of the exciton center of mass. For quantum-well widths less than 150 nm, the experimental results are described better by the model of quantum confinement of electrons and holes.     

Modeling of electron tunneling times in asymmetric double quantum wells

A scattering process modeled by an imaginary potential V _I in the wide well of an asymmetric double quantum well structure (DQWS) is used to model the electron tunneling from the narrow well. Taking V _I –5 meV, the ground resonant level lifetimes of the narrow well in the DQWS are in quantitative agreement with the experimental resonance and non-resonance tunneling times. The corresponding scattering time 66 fs is much faster than the intersubband scattering time of LO-photon emission.     

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.     

Enhancement of surface emission in deep ultraviolet AlGaN-based light emitting diodes with staggered quantum wells

The optical polarization properties of staggered AlGaN-AlGaN/AlN quantum wells (QWs) are investigated using the theoretical model based on the k·p method. The numerical results show that the energy level order and coupling relation of the valence subband structure change in the staggered QWs and the trend is beneficial to TE polarized transition compared to that of conventional AlGaN/AlN QWs. As a result, the staggered QWs have much stronger TE-polarized emission than conventional AlGaN-based QWs, which can enhance the surface emission of deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The polarization control by using staggered QWs can be applied in high efficiency DUV AlGaN-based LEDs.     

Magnetic-field-induced polariton effects in light reflection spectra of structures with wide exciton quantum wells

A theoretical model has been developed to describe the behavior of exciton polaritons in a wide quantum well for structures with the zinc blende symmetry in a transverse magnetic field (the Voigt geometry). The model takes into account the mixing of the 1s-1s and 1s-2p states of heavy excitons by the magnetic field and makes it possible to explain and quantitatively describe the activation of optically inactive states in the reflection spectra and the magnetic-field-induced increase in the translational mass of the exciton. The quantitative calculations of the spectra have been preformed using typical parameters for CdTe/ZnCdTe quantum-well structures.     

IR absorption by free charge carriers with the participation of optical phonons in structures with quantum wells

The absorption of light by free charge carriers with the participation of surface and bulk optical phonons is considered in terms of the Boltzmann statistics and Pekar-Fröhlich Hamiltonian for the electron-photon interaction in a polar semiconductor layer within the framework of the model of a rectangular quantum well. It is found that the contributions of the surface and bulk modes to the probability of light absorption depend on the quantum-well width. It is demonstrated that the line of the photon-phonon resonance has a complex structure due to the difference between the frequencies of the bulk and surface optical vibrations. The influence of the adjacent media on the coefficient of light absorption is investigated.     

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.     

Tight-binding calculations of the subband structures of zincblende-semiconductor [001] quantum wells

The scattering-theoretic T-matrix method is used to calculate the subband structures of GaAs−ZnSe and ZnSe−ZnS_xSe_1−x [001] quantum wells within an empirical tight-binding model, that includes the bulk Г₆, Г₇ and Г₈ valence- and conduction bands. The resulting confinement energies for vanishing lateral crystal momentumk _‖ are compared with those, that are obtained from a simple effective mass model and effects are found and predicted which the effective mass model cannot account for. The effect of the band nonparabolicity and the influence of the microscopic sequence of atomic layers, which determines the symmetry properties of a quantum well, are studied for the GaAs−ZnSe wells.     

Tight-binding calculations of the subband structures of zincblende-semiconductor [001] quantum wells

The scattering-theoretic T-matrix method is used to calculate the subband structures of GaAs?ZnSe and ZnSe?ZnS_xSe_1?x [001] quantum wells within an empirical tight-binding model, that includes the bulk Г₆, Г₇ and Г₈ valence- and conduction bands. The resulting confinement energies for vanishing lateral crystal momentumk _‖ are compared with those, that are obtained from a simple effective mass model and effects are found and predicted which the effective mass model cannot account for. The effect of the band nonparabolicity and the influence of the microscopic sequence of atomic layers, which determines the symmetry properties of a quantum well, are studied for the GaAs?ZnSe wells.     

Asymmetric double quantum wells with smoothed interfaces

We have derived and analyzed the wavefunctions and energy states for an asymmetric double quantum well (ADQW), broadened due to interdiffusion or other static interface disorder effects, within a known discreet variable representative approach for solving the one-dimensional Schrodinger equation. The main advantage of this approach is that it yields the energy eigenvalues, and the eigenvectors, in semiconductor nanostructures of different shapes as well as the strengths of the optical transitions between them. The behaviour of ADQW states for the different mutual widths of coupled wells, for the different degree of broadening, and under increasing external electric field is investigated. We have found that interface broadening effects change and shift energy levels, not monotonously, but the resonant conditions near an energy of sub-band coupling regions do not strongly distort. Also, it is shown that an external electric field may help to achieve resonant conditions for inter-sub-band inverse population by intrawell emission of LO-phonons in diffuse ADQW.     

Resonance scattering in quantum wells with nanocenters

It is shown that, in 2D electron layers, nanocenters of finite radius (quantum dots, donors) may give rise to Fano resonances in the scattering cross section. The resonance contribution to the residual resistance is calculated.     

Energy spectrum of quantum wells in PbTe/PbEuTe-based structures from photoluminescence data

It is shown that the energies of radiative transitions between the ground states of electrons and holes for high-quality deep PbTe quantum wells at low temperatures are described well within the framework of the two-band model with regard to the nonparabolicity, strong anisotropy, and multivalley character of the band structure and also uniaxial deformation, that is present in the heterostructure. For a two-dimensional system, the temperature coefficient of the variation of the forbidden band gap decreases with decreasing well width, which is explained by a weakening of the electron-phonon interaction.     

Photoluminescence of HgCdTe heterostructures with multiple quantum wells

An analysis of experimental data obtained by various authors via recording infrared (IR) photoluminescence (PL) in heteroepitaxial structures based on solid Cd _x Hg_1?x Te (CHT) solutions with multiple quantum wells is presented. A theoretical analysis of optical transition energies is conducted based on a self-consistent solution to the Poisson and Schröbinger equations for a quantum well. Experimental data obtained at different temperatures, pump powers, and excitation wavelengths are analyzed.