Observation of the third subband population in modulation-doped InGaAs/InAlAs heterostructure

The population of the third (n = 3) two-dimensional electron subband of InGaAs/InAlAs modulation-doped structures has been observed by means of Fourier transform photoluminescence (PL). Three well resolved PL peaks centred at 0.737, 0.908, and 0.980eV are observed, which are attributed to the transitions from the lowest three electron subbands to the n = 1 heavy-hole subband. The subband separations clearly exhibiting the features of the stepped quantum well with triangle and square potentials are consistent with numerical calculation. Thanks to the presence of Fermi cutoff, the population ratio of these three subbands can be estimated. Temperature- and excitation-dependent luminescences are also analyzed.