Intervally transfer in narrow InGaAS/AlAsSb quantum wells studied by pump-probe spectroscopy


Intervally transfer in narrow InGaAS/AlAsSb quantum wells studied by pump-probe spectroscopy

Tribuzy, C. V.-B.; Ohser, S.; Sellesk, M.; Winnerl, S.; Schneider, H.; Helm, M.; Neuhaus, J.; Dekorsy, T.; Biermann, K.; Künzel, K.

The development of quantum cascade lasers (QCL) for frequencies as low as 3 µm has gained a lot of attention recently. While the performance of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade lasers (QCL) can be severely hampered by the influence of indirect states [1], very recent work has demonstrated that lasing can be achieved in InGaAs/AlAsSb [2], InGaAs/AlAs [3] and InAs/AlSb [4] at around 3 m, where the upper laser level lies above some indirect minima.
We have performed a pump-probe investigation of intersubband relaxation in doped narrow In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs0.56Sb0.44 multi quantum wells (QW) with different thicknesses from 2.9 to 4 nm, grown by MBE latticed matched to an InP substrate. The measurements were performed with a high-repetition-rate (78 MHz) optical parametric oscillator tunable between 1.1 and 3.3 µm with a pulse length of 280 fs [5]. The extremely high signal-to-noise ratio allows us to analyze the decay dynamics in detail.
The relaxation dynamics of a well-doped 3 nm QW was studied with 130 pJ pulses at a wavelength of 2.4 µm. In this sample, where the second subband lies above the InGaAs X-minimum, we observe a non-exponential decay, which can be very well reproduced with two exponentials of 1.5 and 6.2 ps (Fig. 1). Analyzing this behavior with three-level rate equations, tau =1.5 ps represents the combined decay rate from the upper subband to the lower one and to the X-state. 6.2 ps correspond to the return time from the X-level to the ground state (see inset). This means that the intervalley transfer time (tauX2 ≥ 2 ps) is much longer than known from bulk systems and implies that population inversion in a QCL can persist, thus explaining the functioning of QCLs at wavelength as short as 3 µm.
As a cross check, we also investigated wider-QW samples, where the second subband lies below the X-level. As expected, these were found to exhibit a simple mono-exponential behavior. We are presently extending this investigation to coupled QWs, which bear closer similarity to actual QCL structures.

References
[1] L. R. Wilson et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 1378 (2002).
[2] D. G. Revin et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 021108 (2007).
[3] M. P. Semtsiv et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 051111 (2007).
[4] K J. Devenson et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 111118 (2007).
[5] C. V.-B. Tribuzy et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 171104 (2006).

  • Lecture (Conference)
    13th International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors, 08.-12.07.2007, Guildford, UK

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Publ.-Id: 10218