Impurity-assisted terahertz luminescence in quantum well nanostructures under interband photoexсitation

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an experimental study of impurity-assisted photoluminescence in the far- (terahertz) and near-infrared spectral ranges in n-GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures with different well widths under interband photoexcitation of electron–hole pairs. The optical electron transitions between the first electron subband and donor ground state as well as between excited and ground donor states were revealed in the far-infrared photoluminescence spectra. Observation of these optical electron transitions became possible because of the depopulation of the donor ground state in the quantum well due to the non-equilibrium charge carrier radiative transitions from the donor ground state to the first heavy hole subband. The opportunity to tune the terahertz radiation wavelength in structures with doped quantum wells by changing the quantum well width was demonstrated experimentally.