Microscopic Theory of Optical Nonlinearities and Spontaneous Emission Lifetime in Group-III Nitride Quantum Wells
Microscopic calculations of the absorption/gain and luminescence spectra are presented for wide bandgap Ga{sub 1{minus}x}In{sub x}N/GaN quantum well systems. Whereas structures with narrow well widths exhibit the usual excitation dependent bleaching of the exciton resonance without shifting spectral position, a significant blue shift of the exciton peak is obtained for wider quantum wells. This blue shift, which is also present in the excitation dependent luminescence spectra, is attributed to the interplay between the screening of a strain induced piezoelectric field and the density dependence of many-body Coulomb effects. The calculations also show an over two orders of magnitude increase in the spontaneous electron-hole-pair lifetime with well width: due to the reduction of the electron-hole wavefunction overlap in the wider wells. The resulting decrease in spontaneous emission loss is predicted to lead to improved threshold properties in wide quantum well lasers.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 4500
- Report Number(s):
- SAND99-0621J; TRN: AH200114%%70
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review B (Rapid Communications), Other Information: Submitted to Physical Review B (Rapid Communications); PBD: 16 Mar 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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