Microscopic theory of optical nonlinearities and spontaneous emission lifetime in group-III nitride quantum wells
- Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-0601 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Material Sciences Center, Philipps-University, Renthof 5, D-35032 Marburg (Germany)
Microscopic calculations of the absorption 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 blueshift of the exciton peak is obtained for wider quantum wells. This blueshift, 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 wave function 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. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}
- OSTI ID:
- 351904
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Vol. 60, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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