Study of nonradiative recombination centers in GaAs:N δ-doped superlattices structures revealed by below-gap excitation light

Abstract

Nonradiative recombination (NRR) centers in GaAs:N $\delta$-doped superlattices (SLs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has been investigated by two-wavelength excited photoluminescence (TWEPL) method for conduction band scheme. The PL intensity of $E_{-}$ band of the samples with lower nitrogen (N) concentration (0.317% N) initially increases after addition of below-gap excitation (BGE) light over above-gap excitation (AGE) light and then quenches at higher BGE density and energy, while that of GaAs (e-A°) emission of GaAs layers decreases monotonically. For sample with higher N concentration (1.18% N) both the $E _{-}$ band and GaAs (e-A°) emission decreases monotonically with enhancing BGE density and degree of decreasing of PL intensity is higher compared to the low N concentration sample. The quenching of PL intensity indicates the existence of NRR centers in GaAs layers and GaAs:N $\delta$-doped SL region. The recombination models have been proposed for explaining the results from the experiments.