Novel type-II material system for laser applications in the near-infrared regime

Control of the nonlinear response of bulk GaAs induced by long-wavelength infrared pulses

The nonlinear optical response of GaAs is studied using extremely nonresonant 10 μm laser pulses with peak intensities greater than 2 GW/cm ². We observe over an order of magnitude enhancement in the four-wave mixing efficiency by decreasing the CO ₂ laser beat-wave frequency. This enhancement is attributed to currents of photoexcited unbound carriers modulated at the beat frequency, confirmed by measurements of nonlinear absorption at this long wavelength as well as a fully microscopic analysis of the excitation dynamics. Modeling of such nonperturbative semiconductor-laser interactions predicts that further decreasing the beat frequency can increase the nonlinear response and allow for its control over two orders of magnitude.

Correlation of optical properties and interface morphology in type-II semiconductor heterostructures

(Ga,In)As/GaAs/Ga(As,Sb) and (Ga,In)As/GaAs/Ga(N,As) type-II double quantum well heterostructures have been grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. A growth interruption procedure was used to intentionally modify the morphology of the internal interfaces. The heterostructures were investigated using continuous wave and time-resolved photoluminescence as well as optical pump-optical probe spectroscopy. We find a correlation between the interface morphology and optical and kinetic properties. A growth interruption of about 120 s yielded substantially smoother interfaces both on vertical as well as lateral length scales. On the other hand a considerably enhanced type-II recombination time as well as a longer electron tunneling time are observed. We attribute this to a reduced interface localization in case of smoother interfaces.

Enhanced Absorption by Linewidth Narrowing in Optically Excited Type-II Semiconductor Heterostructures

We experimentally report a surprising linewidth narrowing of the direct exitonic 1  s heavy-hole transition in a type-II quantum well system. This narrowing, which builds up on a pico- to nanosecond timescale, causes a transient enhanced absorption at the spectral peak position of the excitonic resonance. We discuss how this effect depends on experimental parameters such as excitation density, temperature, and barrier width. We cannot attribute this effect to known physical mechanisms.

High-temperature operation of electrical injection type-II (GaIn)As/Ga(AsSb)/(GaIn)As "W"-quantum well lasers emitting at 1.3 µm

Electrical injection lasers emitting in the 1.3 μm wavelength regime based on (GaIn)As/Ga(AsSb)/(GaIn)As type-II double "W"-quantum well heterostructures grown on GaAs substrate are demonstrated. The structure is designed by applying a fully microscopic theory and fabricated using metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. Temperature-dependent electroluminescence measurements as well as broad-area edge-emitting laser studies are carried out in order to characterize the resulting devices. Laser emission based on the fundamental type-II transition is demonstrated for a 975 μm long laser bar in the temperature range between 10 °C and 100 °C. The device exhibits a differential efficiency of 41 % and a threshold current density of 1.0 kA/cm2 at room temperature. Temperature-dependent laser studies reveal characteristic temperatures of T0 = (132 ± 3) K over the whole temperature range and T1 = (159 ± 13) K between 10 °C and 70 °C and T1 = (40 ± 1) K between 80 °C and 100 °C.

GaAs1-xBix/GaNyAs1-y type-II quantum wells: novel strain-balanced heterostructures for GaAs-based near- and mid-infrared photonics

The potential to extend the emission wavelength of photonic devices further into the near- and mid-infrared via pseudomorphic growth on conventional GaAs substrates is appealing for a number of communications and sensing applications. We present a new class of GaAs-based quantum well (QW) heterostructure that exploits the unusual impact of Bi and N on the GaAs band structure to produce type-II QWs having long emission wavelengths with little or no net strain relative to GaAs, while also providing control over important laser loss processes. We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the potential of GaAs_1-xBi_x/GaN_yAs_1-y type-II QWs on GaAs and show that this approach offers optical emission and absorption at wavelengths up to ~3 µm utilising strain-balanced structures, a first for GaAs-based QWs. Experimental measurements on a prototype GaAs_0.967Bi_0.033/GaN_0.062As_0.938 structure, grown via metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy, indicate good structural quality and exhibit both photoluminescence and absorption at room temperature. The measured photoluminescence peak wavelength of 1.72 μm is in good agreement with theoretical calculations and is one of the longest emission wavelengths achieved on GaAs to date using a pseudomorphically grown heterostructure. These results demonstrate the significant potential of this new class of III-V heterostructure for long-wavelength applications.

Recombination dynamics of type-II excitons in (Ga,In)As/GaAs/Ga(As,Sb) heterostructures

(Ga,In)As/GaAs/Ga(As,Sb) multi-quantum well heterostructures have been investigated using continuous wave and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy at various temperatures. A complex interplay was observed between the excitonic type-II transitions with electrons in the (Ga,In)As well and holes in the Ga(As,Sb) well and the type-I excitons in the (Ga,In)As and Ga(As,Sb) wells. The type-II luminescence exhibits a strongly non-exponential temporal behavior below a critical temperature of T _c = 70 K. The transients were analyzed in the framework of a rate-equation model. It was found that the exciton relaxation and hopping in the localized states of the disordered ternary Ga(As,Sb) are the decisive processes to describe the dynamics of the type-II excitons correctly.

Lightwave-driven quasiparticle collisions on a subcycle timescale

Ever since Ernest Rutherford scattered α-particles from gold foils, collision experiments have revealed insights into atoms, nuclei and elementary particles. In solids, many-body correlations lead to characteristic resonances--called quasiparticles--such as excitons, dropletons, polarons and Cooper pairs. The structure and dynamics of quasiparticles are important because they define macroscopic phenomena such as Mott insulating states, spontaneous spin- and charge-order, and high-temperature superconductivity. However, the extremely short lifetimes of these entities make practical implementations of a suitable collider challenging. Here we exploit lightwave-driven charge transport, the foundation of attosecond science, to explore ultrafast quasiparticle collisions directly in the time domain: a femtosecond optical pulse creates excitonic electron-hole pairs in the layered dichalcogenide tungsten diselenide while a strong terahertz field accelerates and collides the electrons with the holes. The underlying dynamics of the wave packets, including collision, pair annihilation, quantum interference and dephasing, are detected as light emission in high-order spectral sidebands of the optical excitation. A full quantum theory explains our observations microscopically. This approach enables collision experiments with various complex quasiparticles and suggests a promising new way of generating sub-femtosecond pulses.