Thermal lensing effect in ridge structure InGaN multiple quantum well laser diodes

Time-resolved light-current curves, spectra, and far-field distributions of ridge structure InGaN multiple quantum well laser diodes grown on sapphire substrate are measured with a temporal resolution of 0.1 ns under a pulsed current condition. Results show that the thermal lensing effect clearly improves the confinement of the higher order modes. The thermal lens leads to a lower threshold current for the higher order modes, a higher slope efficiency, and a change in the lasing mode of the device. The threshold current for the higher modes decreases by about 5 mA in every 10 ns in a pulse, and the slope efficiency increases by 7.5 times on the average when higher modes lase. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Effect of nonradiative recombination on carrier dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells

The nonradiative recombination effect on carrier dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells is studied by time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and polarization-dependent TRPL at various excitation intensities. It is found that both recombination dynamics and spin relaxation dynamics strongly depend on the excitation intensity. Under moderate excitation intensities the PL decay curves exhibit unusual non-exponential behaviour. This result is well stimulated by a rate equation involving both the radiative and non-radiative recombinations via the introduction of a new parameter of the effective concentration of nonradiative recombination centres in the rate equation. In the spin dynamics study, the spin relaxation also shows strong excitation power dependence. Under the high excitation power an increase of spin polarization degree with time is observed. This new finding provides a useful hint that the spin process can be controlled by excitation power in GaInNAs systems.

Enhancement of photoluminescence intensity of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells by two-step rapid thermal annealing

We investigate the effect of rapid thermal annealing on InGaNAs/GaAs quantum wells. At optimized annealing temperatures and times, the greatest enhancement of the photoluminescence intensity is obtained by a special two-step annealing process. To identify the mechanism affecting the material quality during the rapid thermal annealing, differential temperature analysis is applied, and temperature- and power-dependent photoluminescence is carried out on the samples annealed under different conditions. Our experiment reveals that some composition redistribution or other related ordering process may occur in the quantum-well layer during annealing. Annealing at a lower temperature for a long time primarily can remove defects and dislocations while annealing at a higher temperature for a short time primarily homogenizes the composition in the quantum wells.

Thermal stress analysis for GaInAsP multiple quantum well wafer chemically bonded to Si (100)

An n-InP-based InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well wafer was bonded with p-Si by chemical surface activated bonding at 70 degrees C, and then annealed at 450 degrees C. Different thermal expansion coefficients between InP and Si will induce thermal stresses in the bonded wafer. Planar and cross-sectional distributions of thermal stress in the bonded InP-Si pairs were analyzed by a two-dimensional finite element method. In addition, the normal, peeling, and shear stresses were calculated by an analytic method. Furthermore, x-ray double crystalline diffraction was applied to measure the thermal strain and the strain caused by the mismatching of the crystalline orientation between InP (100) and Si (100). The wavelength redshift of the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum due to thermal strain was investigated via the calculation of the band structure, which is in agreement with the measured PL spectra.

Influence of longitudinal electric field on the hot-phonon effect in quantum wells

Using the Huang-Zhu model [K. Huang and B.-F. Zhu, Phys. Rev. B 38, 13377 (1988)] for the optical phonons and associated carrier-phonon interactions in semiconductor superlattices, the effects of longitudinal electric field on the energy-loss rates (ELRs) of hot carriers as well as on the hot-phonon effect (HPE) in GaAs/AlAs quantum wells (QWs) are studied systematically. Contributions of various bulklike and interface phonons to the hot-carrier relaxation are compared in detail, and comprehensively analyzed in relation to the intrasubband and intersubband scatterings for quantum cascade lasers. Due to the broken parity of the electron (hole) states in the electric field, the bulklike modes with antisymmetric potentials are allowed in the intrasubband relaxation processes, as well as the modes with symmetric potentials. As the interface phonon scattering is strong only in narrow wells, in which the electric field affects the electron (hole) states little, the ELRs of hot carriers through the interface phonon scattering are not sensitive to the electric field. The HPE on the hot-carrier relaxation process in the medium and wide wells is reduced by the electric field. The influence of the electric field on the hot-phonon effect in quantum cascade lasers is negligible. When the HPE is ignored, the ELRs of hot electrons in wide QWs are decreased noticeably by the electric field, but slightly increased by the field when considering the HPE. In contrast with the electrons, the ELRs of hot holes in wide wells are increased by the field, irrespective of the HPE. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Strong in-plane optical anisotropy of asymmetric (001) quantum wells

It is well known that asymmetry in the (001) direction can induce in-plane optical anisotropy (IPOA) in (001) quantum wells (QWs). In this letter, asymmetry is introduced in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs QWs by inserting 1 ML (monolayer) of InAs or AlAs at interfaces. Strong IPOA, which is comparable to that in the InGaAs/InP QWs with no common atom, is observed in the asymmetric GaAs/AlGaAs QW by reflectance difference spectroscopy. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of growth parameters of frequency-radio plasma nitrogen source on extending emission wavelengths from 1.31 mu m to 1.55 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

High (42.5%) indium content GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells with room temperature emission wavelength from 1.3 mu m to 1.5 mu m range were successfully grown by Radio Frequency Plasma Nitrogen source assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The growth parameters of plasma power and N-2 How rate were optimized systematically to improve the material quality. Photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that the optical and crystal quality of the 1.54 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs QWs was kept as comparable as that in 1.31 mu m.

A 1.5 mu m n-type InGaAsP/InGaAsP modulation-doped multiple quantum well DFB laser by MOCVD

1.5 mu m n-type InGaAsP/InGaAsP modulation-doped multiple quantum well (MD-MQW) DFB lasers have been fabricated successfully by low pressure metal organic chemical vapour deposition (LP-MOCVD) technology. The experimental results indicate that n-type MD-MQWs can effectively reduce the threshold Current compared with conventional multiple quantum well DFB lasers. Theoretical analysis indicates that such an effect is due to the much smaller absorption loss and lower Auger recombination, compared with that in an undoped MQW structure. Moreover, the introduction of n-type dopant of suitable levels of concentration in the barrier layers enhances the dynamic characteristics of DFB lasers, due to a coupling between the adjacent quantum well layers and tunnelling-assisted injection, which can reduce the relatively long capture time and increase the effective differential gain 1/X dG/dn .

Rashba spin splitting in biased semiconductor quantum wells

Rashba spin splitting (RSS) in biased semiconductor quantum wells is investigated theoretically based on eight-band k center dot p theory. We find that at large wave vectors, RSS is both nonmonotonic and anisotropic as a function of in-plane wave vector, in contrast to the widely used isotropic linear model. We derive an analytical expression for RSS, which can qualitatively reproduce such nonmonotonic behavior at large wave vectors. We also investigate numerically the dependence of RSS on the various band parameters and find that RSS increases with decreasing band gap and subband index, increasing valence band offset, external electric field, and well width. All these dependences can be qualitatively described by our analytical model.

Optical properties of inGaAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by Sb-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

It is found that both methods using either continuous Sb supply or pre-deposition of a very thin Sb layer are efficient for the Sb-assisted molecular beam epitaxy growth of highly strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs). The emission of QWs is extended to long wavelength close to 1.25 mu m with high luminescence efficiency at room temperature. The influence of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the photoluminescence intensity critically depends on the annealing temperature and duration for highly strained QWs. A relatively low RTA temperature of 700 degrees C with a short duration of 10 s is suggested for optimizing the annealing effect. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Band gap renormalization and carrier localization effects in InGaN/GaN quantum-wells light emitting diodes with Si doped barriers

The optical properties of two kinds of InGaN/GaN quantum-wells light emitting diodes, one of which was doped with Si in barriers while the other was not, are comparatively investigated using time-integrated photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence techniques. The results clearly demonstrate the coexistence of the band gap renormalization and phase-space filling effect in the structures with Si doped barriers. It is surprisingly found that photogenerated carriers in the intentionally undoped structures decay nonexponentially, whereas carriers in the Si doped ones exhibit a well exponential time evolution. A new model developed by O. Rubel, S. D. Baranovskii, K. Hantke, J. D. Heber, J. Koch, P. Thomas, J. M. Marshall, W. Stolz, and W. H. Ruhle [J. Optoelectron. Adv. Mater. 7, 115 (2005)] was used to simulate the decay curves of the photogenerated carriers in both structures, which enables us to determine the localization length of the photogenerated carriers in the structures. It is found that the Si doping in the barriers not only leads to remarkable many-body effects but also significantly affects the carrier recombination dynamics in InGaN/GaN layered heterostructures. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Nonradiative recombination effect on photoluminescence decay dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells

The influence of nonradiative recombination on the photoluminescence (PL) decay dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells is studied by time-resolved photoluminescence under various excitation intensities. It is found that the PL decay process strongly depends on the excitation intensity. In particular, under the moderate excitation levels the PL decay curves exhibit unusual nonexponential behavior and show a convex shape. By introducing a new parameter of the effective concentration of nonradiative recombination centers into a rate equation, the observed results are well simulated. The cw PL data further demonstrate the nonradiative recombination effect on the optical properties of GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Theory of ultrafast optical manipulation of electron spins in quantum wells

Based on a multiparticle-state stimulated Raman adiabatic passage approach, a comprehensive theoretical study of the ultrafast optical manipulation of electron spins in quantum wells is presented. In addition to corroborating experimental findings [Gupta , Science 292, 2458 (2001)], we improve the expression for the optical-pulse-induced effective magnetic field, in comparison with the one obtained via the conventional single-particle ac Stark shift. Further study of the effect of hole-spin relaxation reveals that, while the coherent optical manipulation of electron spin in undoped quantum wells would deteriorate in the presence of relatively fast hole-spin relaxation, the coherent control in doped systems can be quite robust against decoherence. The implications of the present results on quantum dots will also be discussed. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

A model for scattering due to interface roughness in finite quantum wells

A model for scattering due to interface roughness in finite quantum wells (QWs) is developed within the framework of the Boltzmann transport equation and a simple and explicit expression between mobility limited by interface roughness scattering and barrier height is obtained. The main advantage of our model is that it does not involve complicated wavefunction calculations, and thus it is convenient for predicting the mobility in thin finite QWs. It is found that the mobility limited by interface roughness is one order of amplitude higher than the results derived by assuming an infinite barrier, for finite barrier height QWs where x = 0.3. The mobility first decreases and then flattens out as the barrier confinement increases. The experimental results may be explained with monolayers of asperity height 1-2, and a correlation length of about 33 angstrom. The calculation results are in excellent agreement with the experimental data from AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs QWs.

Structural and optical properties of strain-compensated GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells with high Sb composition

The structural and optical properties of GaAsSb/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) and strain-compensated GaAsP/GaAs/GaAsSb/GaAs/GaAsP QWs grown on a GaAs substrate by molecular beam epitaxy are investigated using high-resolution x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. We demonstrated that the insertion of tensile GaAsP layers into the active region of GaAsSb/GaAs QWs effectively improves the structural and optical quality. Even the Sb composition is as high as 0.39. The PL spectra at 11 K and room temperature indicate that the PL peak of strain-compensated QWs has a narrower linewidth and higher intensity in comparison to the sample without strain compensation. The results of PL peak blueshift with increasing excitation show the strain-compensated GaAsSb/GaAs interface characteristic of type-I band alignment. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.