Photoluminescence Up-conversion in GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures

Photoluminescence up-conversion in semiconductor heterostructures is a phenomenon in which luminescence occurs at energies higher than that of the excitation photons. It has been observed in many semiconductor heterostructure systems, including InP/AnALAs, CdTe/CdMgTe, GaAs/ordered-(Al)GalnP, GaAs/AIGaAs, and InAs/GaAs. In this wort, GaAs/AIGaAs heterostructures are used as a model system to study the mechanism of the up-conversion process. This system is ideal for testing different models because the band offsets are quite well documented. Different heterostructures are designed to study the effect of disorder on the up-converted luminescence efficiency. In order to study the roles of different types of carriers, the effect of doping was investigated. It was found that the up-converted luminescence is significantly enhanced by p-type doping of the higher-band-gap material.