Time-resolved nondegenerate four-wave mixing experiments were performed on 2.6-μm-thick GaN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition using picosecond pulses at 355 and 1064 nm for grating recording and probing, respectively. Measurements of free carrier grating kinetics at various grating periods Λ in range from 3 to 10 μm allowed determination of nonequilibrium carrier bipolar diffusion coefficient D=1.7 cm2/s at 300 K. Substitution of the D value into two-dimensional carrier transport model allowed fitting of the whole set of grating kinetics at various Λ varying surface recombination velocity S and linear recombination time τR. This procedure provided us a value of S=5×104 cm/s as well as carrier lifetime of ∼1 ns.

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We present a novel way to determine the type of dominant carrier photoexcited from deep traps in a photorefractive semiconductor. A numerical analysis of a picosecond free-carrier grating dynamics has revealed an excitation intensity dependent grating diffusive decay time τ D as well as effective carrier diffusion coefficient D, when the intensity varied in the range below that required to create a bipolar carrier plasma. According to the numerical analysis, an increase or decrease of effective diffusion coefficient D with excitation can be used as a criterion to distinguish the type of photogenerated carrier. We have verified this method experimentally by measuring dependences of effective D versus excitation density in a number of vanadium-doped and shallow-impurity codoped CdTe and ZnCdTe crystals, using for excitation a picosecond YAG:Nd laser (hν = 1.17 eV). The results were found to be in good agreement with predictions, based on carrier transport peculiarities in photorefractive crystals, and correlated well with the secondary ion mass spectroscopy data for each crystal.

We report on diffusion-driven and excitation-dependent carrier recombination rate in multiple InGaN/GaN quantum wells by using photoluminescence, light-induced absorption, and diffraction techniques. We demonstrate gradually increasing with excitation carrier diffusivity and its correlation with the recombination rate. At low carrier densities, an increase in radiative emission and carrier lifetime was observed due to partial saturation of non-radiative recombination centers. However, at carrier densities above ∼5 × 1018 cm−3, a typical value of photoluminescence efficiency droop, a further increase of diffusivity forces the delocalized carriers to face higher number of fast non-radiative recombination centers leading to an increase of non-radiative losses.

A holographic beam splitter has been integrated into a picosecond four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme. This modification significantly simplified the procedure of dynamic grating recording, thus making the FWM technique an easy-to-use tool for the holographic characterization of wide band gap materials. The novel FWM scheme was applied for characterization of hydride vapor phase epitaxy-grown undoped GaN layers of different thickness. It allowed the determination of carrier lifetime, diffusion coefficient, and carrier diffusion length by optical means, as well as the study of carrier recombination peculiarities with respect to dislocation and excess carrier density.