Optical monitoring of nonequilibrium carrier dynamics was performed in freestanding GaN. Four-wave mixing kinetics directly provided carrier lifetime of 5.4ns in the layer, while complementary measurements by photoluminescence technique revealed the fast transients with subnanosecond decay time. Numerical modeling of photoluminescence decay taking into account the carrier spatial-temporal dynamics allowed us to attribute an origin of the fast photoluminescence transients to carrier diffusion to the bulk and to reabsorption of the backward emission. The studies demonstrated carrier diffusion limited applicability of the time-resolved photoluminescence technique for carrier lifetime measurements in a high quality thick III-nitride layers.

Carrier recombination dynamics in GaN grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy has been studied by means of transient photoluminescence under high photoexcitation conditions that are close to stimulated emission regime. The luminescence transient featured an exponential decay with the time constant of 205 ps at room temperature. The transient was shown to be in good agreement with a model of saturated centers of nonradiative recombination with the trap density of ∼1017 cm−3 and carrier recombination coefficients of ∼10−8 cm3/s. In such a regime, the lifetimes of electrons and holes have a common value of 410 ps.

We applied time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy based on free carrier absorption and light diffraction on a transient grating for direct measurements of the carrier lifetime and diffusion coefficient D in high-resistivity single crystal CdTe (codoped with In and Er). The bulk carrier lifetime τ decreased from 670 ± 50 ns to 60 ± 10 ns with increase of excess carrier density N from 1016 to 5 × 1018 cm−3 due to the excitation-dependent radiative recombination rate. In this N range, the carrier diffusion length dropped from 14 μm to 6 μm due to lifetime decrease. Modeling of in-depth (axial) and in-plane (lateral) carrier diffusion provided the value of surface recombination velocity S = 6 × 105 cm/s for the untreated surface. At even higher excitations, in the 1019–3 × 1020 cm−3 density range, D increase from 5 to 20 cm2/s due to carrier degeneracy was observed.

The PU/Au-NPs conjugates based on poly(vinyl alcohol)-containing polyurethane microparticles coated with Au-NPs are prepared by a heat-treated method. The PU/Au-NPs conjugates are characterized by FT-IR , SEM, TEM analysis. The appearance of characteristic peaks in the FT-IR spectra at 1574 and 1624 cm − 1 , which are attributed to urethane groups, are presented for both PU and PU/Au-NPs conjugate. The absorption band at 1716-1718 cm − 1 , attributed to the hydrogen-bonded urethane carbonyl groups of PU/Au-NPs (13nm) -A is higher than that obtained for unmodifi ed PU. The Au-NPs (13nm) are found to be well dispersed in the PU. The Au-NPs (3.5nm) tend toward agglomeration when they are entrapped within PU. It is determined, that Au-NPs present in PU-Au conjugates quench the luminescence of PU.

Metal halide perovskites are attractive materials for the realization of cheap and effective solar cells, thin film transistors, and light emitters. Carrier diffusion at high excitations, however, is poorly addressed in perovskites, even though it governs the diffusion length and determines the efficiency of photonic devices. To fully understand the dependence of diffusion length on carrier density, we performed direct and independent measurements of the carrier diffusion coefficient and recombination rate in several methylammonium lead-halide perovskite layers by applying the light-induced transient grating technique. We demonstrate the existence of two distinct carrier diffusion regimes within the density range of 1018–1020 cm–3. In the perovskite films of high compositional quality, diffusion is governed by a bandlike transport of free carriers. The diffusivity is high (0.28–0.7 cm2/s) in these samples, even at low carrier density, and further increases with excitation due to carrier degeneracy. The opposite scenario was observed in disordered perovskite layers, where diffusion is governed by hopping-like transport of localized carriers. The diffusion coefficient in latter layers is small (0.01–0.04 cm2/s at low densities) and increases with excitation due to local state filling and carrier delocalization. We show that carrier recombination can be well-described using the nonlinear radiative and nonradiative recombination coefficients that saturate with excitation due to phase space filling at high carrier densities. On the basis of these findings, we provide recommendations for the maximization of carrier diffusion length in different perovskites.

Carrier mobility is one of the crucial parameters determining the electronic device performance. We apply the light-induced transient grating technique to measure independently the carrier diffusion coefficient and lifetime, and to reveal the impact of additives on carrier transport properties in wet-cast CHNHPbI (MAPbI) perovskite films. We use the high excitation regime, where diffusion length of carriers is controlled purely by carrier diffusion and not by the lifetime. We demonstrate a four-fold increase in diffusion coefficient due to the reduction of localization center density by additives; however, the density dependence analysis shows the dominance of localization-limited diffusion regime. The presented approach allows us to estimate the limits of technological improvement-carrier diffusion coefficient in wet-cast layers can be expected to be enhanced by up to one order of magnitude.

Recombination, diffusion rates and diffusion length in MAPbI₃ and MAPBr₃ crystals in a wide carrier density range: experiment and theory.

Transients of fast free-carrier recombination and of multitrapping processes, determined by different types of defects, have been traced by photoluminescence (PL) and contact photoconductivity (CPC) in semi-insulating GaN epitaxial layers. To eliminate effects caused by the electrodes, the CPC decays were supplemented with noninvasive microwave absorption transients. The lifetimes of fast recombination and initial free-carrier capture processes were evaluated using ultraviolet (UV) time-resolved photoluminescence transients. The UV PL band peaked at 3.42 eV with contributions from both stimulated and spontaneous emission was attributed to band-to-band recombination. At the highest excitations, the initial PL decay time exhibited a value of 880 ps due to nonradiative free-carrier recombination. The radiative centers were revealed in continuous-wave PL spectra, where the UV band was accompanied with the bands of blue (B) PL, peaked in the range of 2.82–3.10 eV, and yellow (Y) PL, peaked at 2.19 eV, ascribed to dislocations and bulk donor-acceptor recombination, respectively. The time scale of the relaxation rate exhibited a crossover from picoseconds for stimulated emission to hundreds of nanoseconds for multitrapping. In the asymptotic part, a stretched-exponent decay on the millisecond scale was observed with the disorder factor of α=0.7. The asymptotic decay is explained by competition of centers of nonradiative recombination within bulk of the material and trapping attributed to the dislocations. Behavior of the dislocation-attributed capture centers was simulated using a model of capture cross section, which depends on the excess carrier concentration via screening.