Recombination from polar InGaN/GaN quantum well structures at high excitation carrier densities

Abstract

In this paper we report on the emergence of a high energy band at high optically excited carrier densities in the low temperature photoluminescence spectra from polar InGaN/GaN single quantum well structures. This high energy band emerges at carrier densities when the emission from the localized ground states begins to saturate. We attribute this high energy band to recombination involving higher energy less strongly localized electron and hole states that are populated once the localized ground states become saturated; this assignment is supported by the results from an atomistic tight-binding model. A particular characteristic of the recombination at the high carrier densities is that the overall forms of the photoluminescence decay curves bear great similarity to those from semiconductor quantum dots. The decay curves consist of plateaus where the photoluminescence intensity is constant with time as a result of Pauli state blocking in the high energy localized states followed by a rapid decrease in intensity once the carrier density is sufficiently low that the states involved are no longer saturated.