WELL-WIDTH DEPENDENCE OF THE EXCITON LIFETIME IN GAAS/ALGAAS QUANTUM-WELLS

The dependence of the excitonic lifetime on the well width has been studied in conventional GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Two clearly different variations of the measured excitonic lifetime have been observed. For wide well widths, we find a nearly linear decrease of the lifetime with decreasing well width. However, when the well is further decreased, a saturation and even increase of the lifetime with decreasing well width are observed. The experimental data are compared with the theory of radiative excitonic recombination, and show that well width dependence of the measured photoluminescence lifetime can be attributed mainly to the change of the excitonic effective volume and the overlap integral as well.

PRESSURE-DEPENDENCE OF PHOTOLUMINESCENCE IN IN(X)GA(1-X)AS/AL(Y)GA(1-Y)AS STRAINED QUANTUM-WELLS WITH DIFFERENT WIDTH

A systematic investigation on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of InxGa1-xAs/AlyGa1-xAs (x = 0.15, y = 0, 0.33) strained quantum wells (SQWs) with well widths from 1.7 to 11.0 nm has been performed at 77 K under high pressure up to 40 kbar. The experimental results show that the pressure coefficients of the exciton peaks corresponding to transitions from the first conduction subband to the heavy-hole subband increase from 10.05 meV/kbar of 11.0 nm well to 10.62 meV/kbar of 1.8 nm well for In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs SQWs. However, the corresponding pressure coefficients slightly decrease from 9.93 meV/kbar of 9.0 nm well to 9.73 meV/kbar of 1.7 nm well for In0.15Ga0.85As/Al0.33Ga0.67As SQWs. Calculations based on the Kronig-Penney model reveal that the increased or decreased barrier heights and the increased effective masses with pressure are the main reasons of the change in the pressure coefficients.

WELL WIDTH DEPENDENCE OF THE EXCITON LIFETIME IN NARROW GAAS/GAALAS QUANTUM-WELLS

We have studied the radiative excitonic lifetime as a function of the well width in GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells. An increasing lifetime with decreasing well width has been observed in very narrow and high quality GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells, and attributed to the reduced overlap of the electron and hole wave functions and the increase of the exciton effective volume. This is the first observation of its kind in the conventional GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells.

Single steady frequency and narrow line width external cavity semiconductor laser

A single longitudinal mode and narrow line width external cavity semiconductor laser is proposed. It is constructed with a semiconductor laser, collimator, a flame grating, and current and temperature control systems. The one facet of semiconductor laser is covered by high transmission film, and another is covered by high reflection film. The flame grating is used as light feedback element to select the mode of the semiconductor laser. The temperature of the constructed external cavity semiconductor laser is stabilized in order of 10(-3)degreesC by temperature control system. The experiments have been carried out and the results obtained-the spectral fine width of this laser is compressed to be less than 1.4MHz from its original line-width of more than 1200GHz and the output stability (including power and mode) is remarkably enhanced.

Dynamics of morphological changes for mitochondrial fission and fusion

Mitochondria experience continuous fusion and fission in a living cell, but their dynamics remains poorly quantified. Here a theoretical model was developed, upon a simplified population balance equation (PBE), to predict the morphological changes induced by mitochondrial fission and fusion. Assuming that both fission and fusion events are statistically independent, the survival probability of mitochondria staying in the fission or fusion state was formulated as an exponentially-decayed function with time, which depended on the time-dependent distribution of the mitochondrial volume and the fission and fusion rates. Parametric analysis was done for two typical volume distributions. One was Gamma distribution and the other was Gaussian distribution, derived from the measurements of volume distribution for individual mitochondria in a living cell and purified mitochondria in vitro. The predictions indicated that the survival probability strongly depended on morphological changes of individual mitochondria and was inversely correlated to the fission and fusion rates. This work provided a new insight into quantifying the mitochondrial dynamics via monitoring the evolution of the mitochondrial volume.

January to August temperature variability since 1776 inferred from tree-ring width of Pinus tabulaeformis in Helan Mountain

IEECAS SKLLQG

Seasonal precipitation in the south-central Helan Mountain region, China, reconstructed from tree-ring width for the past 224 years

IEECAS SKLLQG