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Title: Room-temperature stability of excitons and transverse-electric polarized deep-ultraviolet luminescence in atomically thin GaN quantum wells

Abstract

Here, we apply first-principles calculations to study the effects of extreme quantum confinement on the electronic, excitonic, and radiative properties of atomically thin (1–4 atomic monolayers) GaN quantum wells embedded in AlN. We determine the quasiparticle bandgaps, exciton energies and wave functions, radiative lifetimes, and Mott critical densities as a function of well and barrier thickness. Our results show that quantum confinement in GaN monolayers increases the bandgap up to 5.44 eV and the exciton binding energy up to 215 meV, indicating the thermal stability of excitons at room temperature. Exciton radiative lifetimes range from 1 to 3 ns at room temperature, while the Mott critical density for exciton dissociation is approximately 1013 cm-2. The luminescence is transverse-electric polarized, which facilitates light extraction from c-plane heterostructures. We also introduce a simple approximate model for calculating the exciton radiative lifetime based on the free-carrier bimolecular radiative recombination coefficient and the exciton radius, which agrees well with our results obtained with the Bethe–Salpeter equation predictions. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that atomically thin GaN quantum wells exhibit stable excitons at room temperature for potential applications in efficient light emitters in the deep ultraviolet as well as room-temperature excitonic devices.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1577609
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1566172
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Bayerl, Dylan, and Kioupakis, Emmanouil. Room-temperature stability of excitons and transverse-electric polarized deep-ultraviolet luminescence in atomically thin GaN quantum wells. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5111546.
Bayerl, Dylan, & Kioupakis, Emmanouil. Room-temperature stability of excitons and transverse-electric polarized deep-ultraviolet luminescence in atomically thin GaN quantum wells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5111546
Bayerl, Dylan, and Kioupakis, Emmanouil. Tue . "Room-temperature stability of excitons and transverse-electric polarized deep-ultraviolet luminescence in atomically thin GaN quantum wells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5111546. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577609.
@article{osti_1577609,
title = {Room-temperature stability of excitons and transverse-electric polarized deep-ultraviolet luminescence in atomically thin GaN quantum wells},
author = {Bayerl, Dylan and Kioupakis, Emmanouil},
abstractNote = {Here, we apply first-principles calculations to study the effects of extreme quantum confinement on the electronic, excitonic, and radiative properties of atomically thin (1–4 atomic monolayers) GaN quantum wells embedded in AlN. We determine the quasiparticle bandgaps, exciton energies and wave functions, radiative lifetimes, and Mott critical densities as a function of well and barrier thickness. Our results show that quantum confinement in GaN monolayers increases the bandgap up to 5.44 eV and the exciton binding energy up to 215 meV, indicating the thermal stability of excitons at room temperature. Exciton radiative lifetimes range from 1 to 3 ns at room temperature, while the Mott critical density for exciton dissociation is approximately 1013 cm-2. The luminescence is transverse-electric polarized, which facilitates light extraction from c-plane heterostructures. We also introduce a simple approximate model for calculating the exciton radiative lifetime based on the free-carrier bimolecular radiative recombination coefficient and the exciton radius, which agrees well with our results obtained with the Bethe–Salpeter equation predictions. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that atomically thin GaN quantum wells exhibit stable excitons at room temperature for potential applications in efficient light emitters in the deep ultraviolet as well as room-temperature excitonic devices.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5111546},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 13,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Monolayer GaN excitonic deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes
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