O. V. Volkov

Charged and neutral excitonic complexes in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The temperature and magnetic-field dependences of the recombination line of multiparticle excitonic complexes in undoped and lightly doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are investigated. These dependences have previously been attributed to free charged excitons (trions). It is shown that this line corresponds to a bound state of a complex, specifically, to an exciton bound on a neutral donor in a barrier. It is found that as the temperature or pump power is raised, there appear in the recombination spectrum not only a cyclotron replica shifted downward in energy but also a replica which is symmetrically shifted upwards in energy by an amount equal to the cyclotron energy and which is due to emission from an excited state of an impurity complex. The behavior of the cyclotron replicas is studied as a function of the electron density and temperature.

Excitons and excitonic complexes in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with a low-density quasi-two-dimensional electron and hole channel

The recombination spectra of excitons and excitonic complexes in un-doped GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum wells are investigated. It is shown on the basis of a study of the magnetic-field dependence of the emission spectra and the degree of optical orientation in zero magnetic field and on the basis of electrooptic measurements that not only the density but also the sign of the charge carriers in a well depend strongly on the photoexcitation energy. It is shown on the basis of a comparative analysis of the spin splitting of the recombination lines of free and bound excitons that the recombination line which was attributed earlier to a positively charged exciton corresponds to the recombination of an exciton bound on a neutral acceptor.

Effect of screening by two-dimensional charge carriers on the binding energy of excitonic states in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The spectrum of excitonic excited states in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells of different width is studied together with its change due to the screening of electron-hole interaction by two-dimensional electrons. The exciton binding energy decreases sharply with an increase in the concentration of two-dimensional electrons. The temperature dependence of screening parameters is studied for the ground and excited excitonic states down to ultralow temperatures T=50 mK.

Anomalous fluctuations of 2D-electron recombination radiation intensity in the quantum Hall regime

Anomalous intensity fluctuations are observed in the spectrum of radiative ecombination of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) electrons with photoexcited holes in a single quantum well. The fluctuations are observed exclusively under the conditions of the quantum Hall effect (QHE). It is shown that, if the QHE conditions are not fulfilled, the radiation intensity fluctuates strictly following the Poisson distribution 〈δN2〉/〈N〉= 1), whereas in the QHE regime the fluctuation amplitude increases by several orders of magnitude (〈δ N2〉/〈N〉∼102). It is demonstrated that the maxima of the emission noise amplitude coincide with the maxima of inverse magnetoresistance of 2D electrons in the QHE regime and correspond to establishing an anomalously high uniformity of the system.

Excitonic effects in the recombination radiation spectra of completely filled Landau levels of two-dimensional electrons

The recombination radiation spectra of two-dimensional electrons in an asymmetrically doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well are investigated at different temperatures and laser-excitation energies. At low temperatures and in high magnetic fields the recombination lines of the electrons from completely filled Landau levels are split into narrow sublevels. It is shown that this fine structure of the Landau levels is due to the presence of excitonic effects in the initial and final states of the photoexcited system. It is demonstrated that the recombination process is accompanied by the excitation of intersubband and cyclotron magnetoplasma modes.

Giant fluctuations of radiation intensity of two-dimensional electrons in double quantum wells

Giant fluctuations of the recombination-radiation intensity of two-dimensional electrons were studied in double quantum wells with different well and barrier widths in the regime of the integer quantum Hall effect. It was found that the giant fluctuations of photoluminescence intensity in double quantum wells with a narrow barrier (l<150 Å) occur in a narrow magnetic-field interval, where the sum of electron concentrations in both wells corresponds to the integer filling factors 4, 8, and 12. It was established that, under these conditions, the coefficient C12 of correlation between the radiation intensities from different wells is close to unity. It is shown that, as the barrier width increases (l>200 Å), the coefficient C12 decreases, changes sign, and goes to zero at l=400 Å.

Spatial correlations of recombination radiation intensities of two-dimensional electrons under the conditions of the quantum Hall effect

Correlations have been studied between the recombination radiation intensities of a two-dimensional electron gas measured at different points of the sample with giant luminescence fluctuations in the quantum Hall effect regime. It has been found that the correlation of the radiation intensities measured under these conditions at different points of the sample separated by a distance of 1–3 mm is close to unity and disappeared in a threshold way with increasing temperature. It is shown that macroscopic spatial correlations also disappear if the electron system is artificially divided into two subsystems not connected with each other.

Fluctuations of the intersubband splitting energy and the potential well shape of two-dimensional electrons in the quantum hall effect regime

Recombination radiation and inelastic light scattering spectra of 2D electrons are studied simultaneously in structures with a single GaAs quantum well in the quantum Hall effect regime. It is found that the intensity of intersubband inelastic light scattering (the SDE mode) at the filling factor ν = 2 exhibits fluctuations in phase with fluctuations of the photoluminescence intensity of 2D electrons of the ground subband. It is shown that, simultaneously with fluctuations of the scattered light and recombination radiation intensities, the spectral positions of these lines change stepwise by 0.3–0.5 meV. The jumps found in the spectral positions of lines are observed only in narrow intervals of magnetic fields corresponding to the quantum Hall effect and are presumably associated with zero-point fluctuations (Casimir-Lifshits force).

Free and localized positively charged excitons in the emission spectrum of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

The recombination emission spectra of an excitonic complex (A0X) localized on a neutral acceptor, which have previously been attributed to a positively charged exciton (X+), are investigated. Satellites arising around the main luminescence line as a result of recoil processes during recombination of the complex which leave the surviving hole in an excited state are observed and investigated. It is shown in a computational model based on the Luttinger Hamiltonian that the energy splittings between the main line and the satellites correspond to an in-barrier impurity center located a definite distance from the well. It is shown that as the magnetic field increases, a transition is observed from the singlet ground state of the complex to a multiplet state.

Bistable charge states in a photoexcited quasi-two-dimensional electron-hole system

The luminescence spectra of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) with low-density quasi-two-dimensional electron and hole channels were studied. It was demonstrated that, at temperatures below some critical value (Tc∼30 K) and for an excitation power lying in a certain temperature-dependent range, two metastable charge states with two-dimensional charge densities differing in both magnitude and sign can occur in the system under the same conditions. The obtained experimental data agree well with the mathematical model allowing for the transfer of photoexcited carriers to the barrier followed by their tunneling into QW.