Electric field dependent exciton energy and photoluminescence quenching in GaInAs/InP quantum wells

Abstract

We report the observation of electric field induced exciton energy shifts and photoluminescence quenching in GaInAs/InP multiple quantum wells. We have measured both the photocurrent and photoluminescence spectra from 100 Å wells contained with p+- and n+-InP layers in a conventional p-i-n structure; reverse bias voltages of up to 12 V were applied. The exciton peaks in the photocurrent spectrum are seen to broaden and shift to lower energy; the photoluminescence peak, which is due to n=1 excitonic and free-carrier recombination, also shifts to lower energy and is completely quenched at high voltages. These results are similar to those reported previously for GaAs quantum wells and ascribed to the quantum-confined Stark effect.

Observation of confined states in anIn0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48Asmulti-quantum wells structure by quantum confined Stark effects

“…When the electric fields are increased, the peaks shift and shrunk due to the QCSE [7]. The energy shifts depend sensitively on electric field, particularly strongly the ground-state transition.…”

“…These peaks are assigned forbidden transitions having different quantum numbers (n = l) [7]. A peak of 2HH1 is not seen in the 0 kV cm −1 , but the peak is seen dimly in the 63 kV cm −1 and became bigger than that of the 2HH2 in 146 kV cm −1 .…”

“…Types of the transitions are labeled by using the notation, nHHl, or nLHl, where n and l are the principal quantum numbers of the conduction confined state and the valence confined state, in this paper. All of these peaks and humps are assigned to allowed transition having same quantum numbers (n = l) in the 0 kV cm −1 [7]. Energies of the HH allowed transitions, E 1H H 1 , E 2H H 2 , and E 3H H 3 , are 0.79, 0.95, and 1.18 eV.…”

Photocurrent measurements of electric-field-induced carrier energy shifts and tunnelling in In1-xGaxAs/InP quantum wells

“…This is now known to be due to a combination of reduced spatial overlap of the electron and hole wavefunctions, which is important in wide wells [3], and also from carrier tunnelling through the confining barriers, which is more important in narrow wells [4]. Much of the experimental and theoretical effort to date has been devoted to GaAs/ Ga,-,Al,As structures [5], but the requirements for devices that operate at longer wavelengths near 1.3 and 1.5 pm has led to increased interest in In,-,Ga,As/InP structures [6,7]. In this paper we report photocurrent measurements of a single In,-,Ga,As quantum well in fields up to 2.7 X lo5 V cm-' and at temperatures ranging from 5 to 170 K. We compare the experimental results with the results of an exact theoretical calculation which yields field-dependent wavefunctions, energy level shifts and carrier tunnelling times.…”

A modeling of an In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As/In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As multi-quantum wells structure using photocurrent spectroscopy

“…Energies of the light-hole allowed transitions: E~L H~ and E~L H~: are 0.81 and 1.06 eV. When the electric field increases: the peak of the 1HH1 shifts to lower energy side and shrunk due to the QCSE, while such the sharp peak still remaines [6]. Other peaks of allowed transitions become also smaller and broader.…”