In this paper, a novel method to generate optical frequency combs (OFCs) using nanoscale structures is explored. The growing demand for on-chip photonic processing dictates the need for multi-wavelength light sources, such as OFCs, that can be densely integrated with low processing power. Photonic crystal structues provide a viable method to generate all-optical modulation with sub-femto joule switching power and high density integration potential. This method of all-optical modulation is utilised here to generate an OFC from photonic crystal nanocavities and waveguides. Very- at-topped optical frequency combs with a small intensity variation can be generated based on theoretical predictions via detailed analysis of coupled mode theory for photonic crystal nanocavities and waveguides.
Single-pulse laser interference is applied to a Molecular Beam Epitaxy growth chamber to achieve in-situ patterning during the growth of III-V materials, with a focus on producing arrays of III-V quantum dots. We will describe the construction and characterization of the interference system as well as the in-situ patterning results. Pulsed laser interference is shown to strongly interact with the growing surface to produce periodic nanoscale features such as holes and islands, the nature of which is dependent on the local surface energy distribution. We describe a mechanism for the formation of these features in terms of surface diffusion under the influence of the periodic thermal gradient induced by the interference pattern. Nanoislands formed at the interference minima are shown to be ideal sites for quantum dot nucleation.
Laser interference lithography is used to directly pattern the growing surface during molecular beam epitaxy growth of self-assembled InAs quantum dots on GaAs (100) substrates. Arrays of few-monolayer high nano-islands are formed prior to InAs quantum dot growth, which we believe result from the surface diffusion promoted by transient photothermal gradients. The deposition of InAs on such a surface leads to the nucleation of quantum dots solely at the island sites. The number of dots per site is determined by the island size which varies with the laser energy intensity. We are able to achieve highly ordered dense arrays of quantum dots with a single nanosecond laser pulse exposure. InAs quantum dots formed in this fashion show bright narrow photoluminescence with a peak at 1.04 eV at 88 K.
Surface nano-texturing can play an important role for efficiency enhancement of light emission and absorption in optoelectronic devices through reduced surface reflection or enhanced broadband absorption. Periodic and uniform semiconductor nanostructures are highly applicable in bandgap tuning applications but are quite challenging to realize through conventional techniques. We present the fabrication of large area and uniform square lattice based periodic nanostructures with 300 - 400 nm spatial periodicity on a GaAs substrate using pulsed laser interference. Single pulses from a plane-polarized pulsed laser working at 355 nm with 20-50 mJ energy and 7 ns pulse duration are used in a conventional four beam interference geometry at an incidence angle of 36.3° to realize square lattice patterns on photoresist coated over the GaAs substrate. The optical properties of the proposed designs are studied using FDTD simulations and show more than 95% of electromagnetic energy trapping over a broad optical wavelength range. This semiconductor based nanostructuring technology can find applications in improving the efficiency of solar cells or light emitting devices.
In this contribution we investigate both experimentally and by simulations a quantum dot absorber of a two-section
quantum dot laser as an intra-cavity photodiode with a focus on the photo-generated absorber current.
The escape of the photo-generated ES carrier sweep-out from the absorber can be controlled by variably biasing
the absorber either with a variable external resistor in resistor Self-electro-optic-effect device (resistor-SEED)
configuration or by applying a reverse bias. This escape is directly observable in the absorber photocurrent. In
the resistor-SEED regime where the absorber is operated in so-called photoconductive mode, a steep increase in
photocurrent is observed when the ES joins the GS emission and is attributed to increased losses, as reported
recently. In contrast, GS emission and a low photocurrent in the resistor-SEED regime corresponds to a large
carrier occupation probability corresponding to a reduced escape. In reverse bias operation, sole ES emission
is observed together with a shallow increase in photocurrent with increasing reverse bias, in analogy to the
p-n photodiode characteristics. By joining both resulting photocurrent regimes, the respective contributions of
carrier capture and escape in the absorber to the averaged photocurrent is identified by numerical simulations.
The obtained numerical results are in excellent qualitative agreement with the experiment.
In this contribution reverse emission state transition of a two-section quantum dot laser at a saturable absorber
bias of zero volt (short circuit) is presented where lasing and mode-locking starts first on the energetically
higher first excited-state (ES) and then, with increasing gain current, additional lasing and mode-locking on the
energetically lower ground-state (GS) takes place. A huge coexistence regime as well as temporal simultaneity of
both GS and ES mode-locking is experimentally confirmed. At the onset of two-state mode-locking shorter pulse
widths are found for the GS as compared to the ES at the same gain current. A considerable shortening of the ES
pulse widths is observed when GS mode-locking starts. These state-resolved emission dynamics are confirmed by
time-domain travelling-wave equation modeling. Finally, by electrically shortening the saturable absorber via an
external variable resistor, a resistor Self-Electro-Optical Devices (SEED) configuration is exploited and tailored
emission state control is achieved.
An all-optical switching device has been proposed by using self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) within a
vertical cavity structure for ultrafast optical communications. This device has several desirable properties, such as the
ultra-low power consumption, the micrometre size, and the polarization insensitive operation. Due to the threedimensional
confined carrier state and the broad size distribution of self-assembled InAs/GaAs QDs, it is crucial to
enhance the interaction between QDs and the cavity with appropriately designed 1D periodic structure. Significant
QD/cavity nonlinearity is theoretically observed by increasing the GaAs/AlAs pair number of the bottom mirror. By this
consideration, we have fabricated vertical-reflection type QD switches with 12 periods of GaAs/Al0.8Ga0.2As for the top mirror and 25 periods for the bottom mirror to give an asymmetric vertical cavity. Optical switching via the QD excited
state exhibits a fast switching process with a time constant down to 23 ps, confirming that the fast intersubband relaxation of carriers inside QDs is an effective means to speed up the switching process. A technique by changing the light incident angle realizes wavelength tunability over 30 nm for the QD/cavity switch.
We demonstrate how GaAs/AlGaAs regrowth upon patterned InGaP can be utilised to realise self-aligned lasers, window
structured superluminescent diodes and distributed feedback lasers. Such realisation demonstrates the promise of this
methodology for GaAs-based opto-electronic integrated circuits through new capability for buried waveguides, low
reflectivity facets and gratings structures.
This paper details the development of broadband sources at 1050 nm for optical coherence tomography applications. The careful
optimization of the current supplied to different sections of a multi-contact device allows both high power and broadband CW
emission to be obtained.
In this contribution we report on radio-frequency and in particular time-domain studies to develop a better understanding
of mode-locked quantum dot (QD) two-section lasers emitting at 1.3 μm. Based on substantial investigations of the
optical pulsewidth evolution showing pulsewidths well below 4 ps, we will present the measured dependences of the
optical pulsewidth as well as the pulse-to-pulse timing jitter on gain current, absorber bias voltage and RF power. Based
on these results we will discuss the shortening of the pulsewidth, the corresponding RF spectra evolution as well as the
pulse-to-pulse rms timing-jitter evolution within a selected range of operating parameters.
We report the first realization of short wavelength (λ ~ 3.05 - 3.6 μm) lattice matched In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs0.56Sb0.44/InP
quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). The highest-performance device (λ ~ 3.6μm) displays pulsed laser action for
temperatures up to 300 K. The shortest wavelength QCL (λ ≈ 3.05 μm) operates in pulsed mode at temperatures only up
to 110 K. The first feasibility study of the strain compensated InGaAs/AlAsSb/InP QCLs (λ ~ 4.1 μm) proves that the
lasers with increased indium fractions in the InGaAs quantum wells of 60 and 70% display no degradation compared
with the lattice matched devices having identical design. This strain compensated system, being of particular interest for
QCLs at λ <~ 3.5μm, provides increased energy separation between the Γ and X conduction band minima in the quantum
wells, thus decreasing possible carrier leakage from the upper laser levels by intervalley scattering. We also demonstrate
that the performance of strain compensated InGaAs/AlAsSb QCLs can be improved if AlAsSb barriers in the QCL
active region are replaced by AlAs layers. The introduction of AlAs is intended to help suppress compositional
fluctuations due to inter diffusion at the quantum well/barrier interfaces.
Quantum dot (QD) lasers incorporating the dot-in-a-well (DWELL) structures offer the prospect of lowcost
and high-performance sources for telecom applications at 1300 nm. A number of significant
advantages have been demonstrated to arise from the 0-D density of states, such as low threshold, low
noise, low chirp and relative temperature insensitivity. However QD lasers suffer from a low modal gain
per dot layer, which is a major factor of limiting high-speed performance. To address this, both a high inplane
dot density and the use of multilayer structure are necessary and this presents a major challenge for
molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth. In this work, to increase the gain of 1300-nm quantum-dot (QD)
lasers, we first optimize the MBE growth of InAs/InGaAs QD structure for single-layer epitaxy structure
with In composition within InGaAs well. Then we proposed a growth technique, high-growthtemperature
spacer layer to suppress the dislocation formation for the multilayer QD structure. These
lead to the realization of high-performance multilayer 1300-nm QD lasers with extremely low threshold
current density (Jth) of 17 A/cm2 at room temperature (RT) under continuous-wave (cw) operation and
high output power of over 100 mW. By combining the high-growth-temperature spacer layer technique
with the p-type modulation doping structure, a negative characteristic temperature above RT has been
demonstrated for a 5-layer QD laser structure. Further modification of the high-growth-temperature
spacer layer technique, we realized a very low RT threshold current density of 33 A/cm2 for a 7-layer ptype-
modulated QD laser. The temperature coefficient of ~0.11 nm/K over the temperature range from
20 to 130 °C has also been realized by modifying the strain profile of InGaAs capping layer. These
techniques could find application in lasers designed for optical fiber systems.
Electroluminescence (EL) and its temperature dependence of InAs quantum dots embedded in In0.15Ga0.85As quantum
well [dots in a well (DWELL)] have been investigated as functions of the growth temperature of the GaAs spacer layer.
The EL intensity at room temperature increases as the spacer growth temperature increases. The integrated EL intensity
as a function of injection current at room temperature for all samples shows that at low currents, the gradients are
superlinear but this superlinearity decreases as the spacer growth temperature is increased. From a simple analysis of the
generation-recombination rate equations, it can be shown that the superlinearity stems from the nonradiative
recombination being the dominant recombination process. As the spacer growth temperature is increased, this
nonradiative recombination become less dominant. An Arrhenius plot of the temperature dependence of the EL intensity
gives an activation energy of ~300 ± 15 meV at high temperature. The dominant loss mechanism is therefore concluded
to be the electron escape from the quantum dot ground state to the GaAs barrier.
We report measurements on a series of quantum dot infrared photodetectors grown with different combinations of
monolayer thicknesses (2.2. 2.55 and 2.9 ML) and quantum dot layer sheet doping densities (6×1010 cm-2 and 12×1010
cm-2). The dark current and noise current were higher in devices grown with sheet doping density of 12×1010 cm-2. At a
given bias voltage the dark current and the noise current was found to be lowest in devices having 2.55 ML and sheet
doping density of 6×1010 cm-2. This combination gives a sheet doping density to dot density ratio of approximately unity.
Highest gain was achieved in devices with 2.55 ML and sheet doping density of 6×1010 cm-2.
We report the findings of work undertaken to develop InAs photodiodes with low reverse leakage current, for detection
of mid-wave infrared wavelengths up to 3.5μm. Good quality epitaxial growth of InAs and the lattice matched ternary
AlAs0.16Sb0.84 was developed using molecular beam epitaxy. A photodiode structure was designed, grown and
characterized using an AlAs0.16Sb0.84 layer to block the diffusion of minority electrons. Further reductions in the reverse
leakage current were achieved through studies of wet etching using a range of etchants. A sulphuric acid based etchant
provided the lowest surface leakage current for a single etch step, however the surface leakage current was further
reduces when a two steps etching process was employed, starting with a phosphoric acid based etchant and finishing off
with a sulphuric acid based etchant. Surface profile analysis showed that higher etching rates were obtained in the
direction parallel to the <100> direction. The atomic composition of the etched surface was investigated using Auger
analysis. By etching a test pixel array, the potential for fabricating small pitch focal plane arrays by wet etching was
evaluated.
We present high precision intensity noise measurements of Quantum Dot Superluminescent LEDs and lasers
emitting at 1.3μm. For the QD-SLEDs we investigate the intensity noise behavior and identify the relevant
noise parameters by comparing the experimental results to theoretical calculations. We find an Excess Noise
behavior due to amplified spontaneous emission, the dominant origin of noise. The investigation of the spectrally
resolved emission enables further characterization of the noise properties. The influence of a resonator on the
noise behavior is discussed for QD-Lasers. The noise of the laser is compared to the SLED's, and shows strong
deviation from the Excess Noise character above threshold.
The performance of lasers with self assembled quantum dot active regions is significantly affected
by the presence of the two dimensional wetting layer and the other states necessary for carrier
injection due to the manner in which carriers are distributed amongst the various states. In this work
we describe three approaches to overcome the low value of maximum saturated gain, which has
been observed by many groups worldwide, and explain the approaches in terms of the impact on the distribution of carriers within the available states. We present results of direct measurements of the modal gain and measurements that indicate the form of the carrier distribution within the samples to justify our argument. The structures examined include the use of a high growth temperature to smooth the matrix layer, the use of p-type modulation doping and the use of InAlAs capping layers and all have been grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. We demonstrate CW operation at 1.3&mgr;m for 1mm long devices with uncoated facets and very low threshold current density (< 40Acm-2) in longer devices. We also demonstrate that the negative T0 (reducing threshold current density with increasing temperature) obtained around room temperature in our p-doped devices is due to the temperature dependence of the gain.
Here we present an engineering study showing how altering various aspects of the growth parameters of an InAs dot within an InGaAs well (DWELL) QDIP affects its performance. Amongst our findings, we show capability to control the absorption wavelength both during and after growth by altering the size of the dots and via the quantum confined Stark effect respectively. The addition of AlGaAs current blocking layers is shown to reduce deleterious dark current by over two orders of magnitude.
We have developed 1.3 μm quantum dots (Qdot) using a dot in a well (DWELL) structure based on GaAs and 1.55 μm quantum dash (Qdash) based on InP Fabry-Perot lasers using a ridge waveguide operating in continuous wave at room temperature. The quantum dot lasers have demonstrated high power of 135 mW per facet and 50 mW per facet for the quantum dash devices. We have obtained very low relative intensity noise (RIN) with a nearly flat spectrum, around -159 dB/Hz ± 2 dB/Hz within 0.1-10 GHz range for the quantum dots and -160 dB/Hz ± 2 dB/Hz over a wide bandwidth from 50 MHz to 18 GHz for the quantum dash lasers. Recent experimental results are presented and analysed especially those relating to the noise performances and reliability tests to demonstrate the suitability of these new devices for microwave optical links.
We describe a new type of terahertz (THz) detector for astronomical observation using a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) as the absorbing medium. The detection principle is based on the hot electron effect in 2DEGs. Electrons are heated by THz radiation and the electron temperature is read out by two symmetrical superconductor - 2DEG tunnelling junctions. Hot electrons are removed via tunnelling through a barrier into the superconducting contacts. The energy gap in the superconducting contacts prevents the escape of the colder, non-photoexcited electrons from the 2DEG. The high mobility 2DEG itself is created within AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure with a single quantum well. In this paper we present low temperature DC measurements of 2DEG detectors, and measurements of the electron-phonon thermal conductivity of a 2DEG at 4.2 K and 300 mK as a function of electron temperature and magnetic field (in the 4.2 K case). From these measurements we estimate the noise equivalent power (NEP) of an element in a filled array of S-2DEG-S detectors at 4.2 K to be on the order of ≈
10-14W/√Hz with a response time of ≈ 1ns; at 300 mK, an NEP on the order of ≈
10-19W/√Hz and a response time of ≈ 0.1μs. Using measured parameters for the normal resistance of the S-2DEG-S contacts, we calculate the effect of using a voltage bias to cool the electrons in the absorber to significantly below a 300 mK base temperature. In this configuration, S-2DEG-S detectors can achieve sufficient sensitivity to detect individual THz photons.
We report the on the characterisation of 1.3μm emitting GaInNAs quantum well (QW) lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy using a plasma nitrogen source. Through the optimization of the structural and optical properties as a function of substrate temperature and nitrogen flux conditions, we show that high optical quality structures, which exhibit good room temperature photoluminescence intensity and photoluminescence linewidths <10meV at low temperature, can be routinely achieved. To obtain 1.3μm emission, we employed a structure containing quantum wells with an indium content of 40% and a nitrogen content of 2.5% which have low nitrogen content (1%) lattice matched quaternary GaInNAs barriers, the latter enabling us to grow thick barrier structures without introducing further strain. For unmounted and uncoated 15μm ridge waveguide lasers we have achieved threshold current densities as low as 377Acm-2 for a 3 QW and record low value of 178Acm-2 for a single QW device emitting above 1310nm. The devices show excellent temperature characteristics with characteristic temperatures >90°C observed in several structures. In comparison to GaInAs quantum well lasers, the results show that at this composition (2.5%) there is no appreciable degradation of performance due to the presence of nitrogen in these samples. Increasing the nitrogen content by 1% was observed to shift the wavelength to 1390nm, but with a threshold current density increased by a factor of 2 to 830Acm-2. The results also indicate that although high quality GaInNAs lasers can be achieved at wavelengths suitable for the 1.31μm optical fibre waveband, the performance of devices with higher N content, and therefore with emission at longer wavelength, are degraded.
A high-growth-temperature step used for the GaAs spacer layer is shown to significantly improve the performance of 1.3-μm multilayer InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers. The high-growth-temperature spacer layer inhibits threading dislocation formation, resulting in enhanced electrical and optical characteristics and hence improved laser performance. The combination of high-growth-temperature GaAs spacer layers and high-reflectivity (HR) coated facets has been utilized to further reduce the threshold current and threshold current density (Jth) for 1.3-μm InAs/GaAs QD lasers. Very low continuous-wave room-temperature threshold current of 1.5 mA and a threshold current density of 18.8 A/cm2 are achieved for a 3-layer device with a 1-mm long HR/HR cavity. For a 2-mm cavity the continuous-wave threshold current density is as low as 17 A/cm2 at room temperature for an HR/HR device. An output power as high as 100 mW is obtained for a device with HR/cleaved facets. The high-growth-temperature spacer layers have only a relatively small effect on the temperature stability of the threshold current above room temperature. To further increase the characteristic temperature (T0) of the QD lasers, 1.3-μm InAs/GaAs QD lasers incorporating p-type modulation doping have been grown and studied. A negative T0 and Jth of 48 A/cm-2 at room temperature have been obtained by combining the high-growth-temperature GaAs spacer layers with the p-type modulation doping of the QDs.
Self-assembled In(Ga)As quantum dot (QD) lasers incorporating p-type modulation doping have generated much interest recently due to reports of a temperature insensitive threshold current and increased modulation bandwidth. The mechanism by which p-type doping improves the performance of QD lasers is thought to be similar to that envisaged for quantum well lasers, where increased gain is expected for a given quasi-Fermi level separation due to a shift in both quasi-Fermi levels towards the valence states. However, the benefits may be much more pronounced in quantum dot structures since the population of the smaller number of dot states can be dramatically affected using relatively low doping levels, which may incur less penalty with regard to increased non-radiative recombination and internal optical mode loss. We present results of direct measurements of the modal gain measured as a function of the quasi-Fermi level separation for samples with different degrees of doping, which demonstrate unambiguously the increased gain that can be obtained at a fixed quasi-Fermi level separation. In addition, we have measured the internal optical mode loss and radiative and non-radiative recombination currents for samples containing 0, 15 and 50 dopant atoms per dot and show that, although the internal optical mode loss is similar for all three samples, the non-radiative recombination current increases for samples containing p-doping. We show that our experimental results are consistent with a simple computer simulation of the operation of our structures.
We discuss a technique for tailoring the emission bandwidth of a quantum dot (QD) superluminescent light emitting diode (SLED). We utilize a multi-dot-in-well (DWELL) structure with different indium compositions within each well which we term dots in compositionally modulated well (DCMWELL) structures. One key aspect of our design is the overlap of the ground and excited state emission of different DWELL layers. Such SLED devices operate CW at room temperature with powers in excess of 2.5mW per facet, and exhibit a single peak almost 85 nm wide, which is almost flat topped.
We report the selective area molecular beam epitaxial (SAMBE) growth of quantum dot (QD) structures. The formation of polycrystalline deposits on dielectric masks is shown to be controlled by the growth rate and growth temperature. Furthermore, we report the size, areal density and energy control of QDs in the region of the dielectric mask. We show that for SAMBE, a reduction in InAs QD size and areal density is obtained close to a polycrstal covered dielectric mask, and that this effect is dependent upon the amount of polycrystalline GaAs coverage of the mask. We attribute this effect to the transport of indium from neighboring epitaxial areas to the polycrystalline GaAs covered mask.
Recent progress in the development of 1.3 mm InAs/InGaAs/GaAs dots-in-a-well (DWELL) laser structures has led to efficient CW room temperature laser operation with low current thresholds. However, present devices suffer from non-ideal temperature characteristics due to gain saturation, consequence of the finite dot density and carrier escape due to the small energy separation between the quantum dot (QD) ground and first-excited states. In order to improve device performance, we have examined methods to increase the QD quality and density. In these studies, we have examined the effect of different growth parameters which strongly modify the InAs QDs structure such as temperature and thickness of barrier layers and thickness and composition of the well. Analysis by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Photoluminescence (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have identified the presence of defects arising from the complex interaction of QDs, which propagate through the structure into the upper regions being the primary cause of the poor electronic device characteristics. The use of optimized growth has allowed, however, the fabrication of a defect free five layer-stacked structure with record low threshold current density.
Time-resolved photoluminescence decay measurements have been performed on samples with varying sized self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot ensembles, formed by substrate mis-orientation alone, but otherwise under identical growth conditions. Ground-state radiative recombination lifetimes from 0.8 to 5.3 ns in the incident energy density range of 0.79 pJcm-2 - 40 nJcm-2 at a temperature of 77 K were obtained. It was found that a reduction of the quantum dot size led to a corresponding reduction of the radiative lifetime. The evident bi-exponential decay was obtained for the ground state emission of the quantum dot array, with the slower second component attributed to a carrier re-capturing and indirect radiative recombination processes. Also experimental evidence of the effect of the AlGaAs barrier in InAs QDs emitting in the wavelength range 1200-1300nm is presented. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements have been performed on samples with different compositions of Al in the barrier. A full discussion of the lifetimes of these near infra-red emitting dots will be presented.
Quantum dots have demonstrated improved performance relative to quantum wells in lasers and amplifiers for structures where the total optical loss, and hence the gain required from the dot active material, has been kept low. In many applications higher gain and/or high differential gain are required and high gain structures must be routinely produced if quantum dots are to replace quantum wells in more than a few niche applications. The obvious approach is to use multiple layers of quantum dots in the active region of the laser or amplifier. However, stacking multiple quantum dot layers modifies the growth of subsequent layers and in the extreme case leads to defect formation.
In this work we study an approach where the negative effects caused by the introduction of multiple layers of quantum dots are minimised using a high growth temperature spacer layer (HGTSL) to planarize the surface before deposition of the subsequent layer of dots. We show that this has a dramatic affect on the threshold current of our 1.3μm emitting lasers and by use of detailed characterisation show that this is due to 4 physical effects. Samples containing the HGTSL exhibit less inhomogenous broadening, have an increased dot density, a lower internal optical mode loss and contain fewer defects than samples containing a conventional spacer layer. Our results demonstrate the importance of going beyond an approach based on defect reduction alone.
An analysis of the transverse and longitudinal mode structure of broad area quantum dot lasers emitting at 1060 nm is presented. In particular, temperature is shown to play an important role in the stabilisation of the transverse mode structure of the devices. In addition, the investigation of the interaction between these transverse modes, through the measurement of the spatial intensity correlation, shows that the laser retains some modal properties in the unstable regime. Finally, measurements of spectral correlations between longitudinal mode groups display a strong dependency on their respective transverse mode structures indicating the importance of spatial overlap.
A model portraying the carrier dynamics for an inhomogeneous array of quantum dots (QDs) interacting with a number of photon modes is presented. The model treats an ensemble of QDs with one confined level coupled to a wetting layer or quantum well level and explicitly considers only the electrons. The model is derived by numerically solving a set of rate equations that includes the inhomogeneity of the dot size, multimode photon modes and temperature dependence. Explicitly the inhomogeneous size distribution is included within a inhomogeneous broadening parameter and the temperature dependence within the homogeneous broadening
parameter as well as carrier thermal escape. This is similar to the well-known Sugawara model but in the Sugawara model the carriers are assumed to occupy the inhomogeneous quantum dots equally at all temperatures. Experimental and theoretical work in ref. (2) and (3) believes this is true only for a low temperature regime. Above the temperature where a global minima exists, Fermi-Dirac statistics have been used. This results in different gain and lasing behaviour for higher temperatures from those calculated using the Sugawara model.
Non-linear carrier-photon dynamics are studied for optically pumped InAs quantum dot (QD) laser structures, using excitation into the GaAs barrier by two degenerate pump and probe laser pulses. The non-linear emission from QDs excited by the pump pulse is further amplified by the probe excitation. By varying the delay between the two pulses a very fast decay of the QD excited state emission is measured. Notably slower dynamics for the QD ground state are observed, governed by state filling phenomena, which result in gain saturation.
We examine the mechanisms that lead to a low value of saturated modal gain in both 1μm emitting InGaAs based and ≈ 700nm emitting InP/GaInP quantum dot laser systems. We explain the observation that the value of the saturated modal gain increases as the temperature decreases using a simple model of the filling of the available dot and wetting layer states according to a Fermi-Dirac distribution. We show that it is the relatively large number of available wetting layer valence states and their proximity in energy to the dot states that limits the modal gain. We measure the population inversion factor for samples containing different numbers of layers of dots and for samples where the dots are grown in a quantum well (DWELL) and for dots grown in bulk layers of either GaAs or Al0.15Ga0.85As (non-DWELL). Comparison of this data with that calculated for a Fermi-Dirac distribution of carriers in the available states demonstrates that for most of the samples the carriers in the ground states of the quantum dots are not in thermal equilibrium with those in higher lying energy states - the excited states or wetting layer.
The avalanche multiplication noise characteristics of AlxGa1-xAs (x equals 0-0.8) have been measured in a wide range of PIN and NIP diodes. The study includes determining the effect of the alloy fraction, x, as it varies from 0 to 0.8 while the effect of the avalanche width, w, is investigated by varying it from 1 micrometers down to 0.05 micrometers . For x equals 0-0.6, the ratio of the electron to hole ionization coefficients, 1/k, decreases from 3 (for x equals 0) to 1 (for x equals 0.6), leading to higher noise in a local prediction as x increases. Measurements for x equals 0-0.6 in nominally 1um thick diodes indicates that the excess noise factor can be approximately predicted by the local model. However, as the avalanche width reduces, a lower than expected noise factor was measured. This behaviour is associated with the effect of deadspace, whereby carriers have insufficient energy to initiate ionization for a significant region of the device. The presence of deadspace leads to a more deterministic process, which acts to reduce excess noise. For x equals 0.8 however, its 1/k value is surprisingly high in a bulk structure, leading to noise performance that is primarily determined by the 1/k value and is comparable to that of silicon. Similar to the results of thin AlxGa1-xAs (x equals 0-0.6) diodes, thinner Al0.8Ga0.2As structures exhibit excess noise factor that is significantly reduced by the nonlocal deadspace effects.
The optical spectroscopic techniques of photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation are used to determine the electronic band structure of GaAs-lattice matched bulk (AlxGa1-x)0.52In0.48P and Ga0.52In0.48P-(AlxGa1-x)0.52In0.48P quantum wells. The compositional dependence of both the direct and indirect band gaps is determined for bulk (AlxGa1-x)0.52In0.48P epitaxial layers. These measurements allow the composition for which the lowest energy band gap becomes indirect to be deduced (xc equals 0.50 +/- 0.02). Photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation studies of Ga0.52In0.48P-(AlxGa1-x)0.52In0.48P quantum wells indicate high structural and optical quality and demonstrate that thin (< 40 angstroms) Ga0.52In0.48P wells with Al0.52In0.48P-(AlxGa1-x)0.52In0.48P quantum wells to be determined in an accurate and reliable manner. The conduction band offset, (Delta) Ec, expressed as a fraction of the total direct band gap discontinuity, (Delta) EG, is found to be approximately independent of barrier Al composition ((Delta) Ec approximately equals 0.67 (Delta) EG).
A new modulation spectroscopy, microwave modulated photoluminescence (MMPL), is described. Application of the technique to a well characterized semiconductor system, InP:Zn, in which the radiative recombination processes are not understood, allows interpretation of the resulting spectra. In the ordered ternary Ga0.52In0.48P MMPL provides information about both carrier transport properties and the extent of ordering. When applied to new materials, MMPL can aid identifying radiative recombination processes.
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