Weiying Wang

Broadband external cavity tunable quantum dot lasers with low injection current density

Broadband grating-coupled external cavity laser, based on InAs/GaAs quantum dots, is achieved. The device has a wavelength tuning range from 1141.6 nm to 1251.7 nm under a low continuous-wave injection current density (458 A/cm(2)). The tunable bandwidth covers consecutively the light emissions from both the ground state and the 1st excited state of quantum dots. The effects of cavity length and antireflection facet coating on device performance are studied. It is shown that antireflection facet coating expands the tuning bandwidth up to ~150 nm, accompanied by an evident increase in threshold current density, which is attributed to the reduced interaction between the light field and the quantum dots in the active region of the device.

Optical investigation of strong exciton localization in high Al composition AlxGa1-xN alloys

The exciton localization in wurtzite AlxGa₁-xN alloys with x varying from 0.41 to 0.63 has been studied by deep-ultraviolet photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and picosecond time-resolved PL spectroscopy. Obvious S-shape temperature dependence was observed indicating that the strong exciton localization can be formed in high Al composition AlxGa₁-xN alloys. It was also found that the Al composition dependence of exciton localization energy of AlGaN alloys is inconsistent with that of the excitonic linewidth. We contribute the inconsistency to the strong zero-dimensional exciton localization.

Evidence of Type-II Band Alignment in III-nitride Semiconductors: Experimental and theoretical investigation for In0.17Al0.83N/GaN heterostructures

Type-II band alignment structure is coveted in the design of photovoltaic devices and detectors, since it is beneficial for the transport of photogenerated carriers. Regrettably, for group-III-nitride wide bandgap semiconductors, all existing devices are limited to type-I heterostructures, owing to the unavailable of type-II ones. This seriously restricts the designing flexibility for optoelectronic devices and consequently the relevant performance of this material system. Here we show a brandnew type-II band alignment of the lattice-matched In0.17Al0.83N/GaN heterostructure from the perspective of both experimental observations and first-principle theoretical calculations. The band discontinuity is dominated by the conduction band offset ΔEC, with a small contribution from the valence band offset ΔEV which equals 0.1 eV (with being above). Our work may open up new prospects to realize high-performance III-Nitrides optoelectronic devices based on type-II energy band engineering.

Vacuum Rabi Splitting of Exciton-Polariton Emission in an AlN Film

The vacuum Rabi splitting of exciton–polariton emission is observed in cathodoluminescence (CL) and photoluminescence spectra of an AlN epitaxial film. Atomic force microscopy and CL measurements show that the film has an atomically flat surface, high purity, and high crystal quality. By changing the temperature, anticrossing behavior between the upper and lower polariton branch can be obtained in low temperature with a Rabi splitting of 44 meV, in agreement with the calculation. This large energy splitting is caused by strong oscillator strength, intrinsically pure polarization in wurtzite AlN semiconductor, and high fraction of free exciton in the sample. These properties indicate that AlN can be a potential semiconductor for the further development of polariton physics and polariton–based novel devices.

Exciton emission of quasi-2D InGaN in GaN matrix grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We investigate the emission from confined excitons in the structure of a single-monolayer-thick quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) InxGa1−xN layer inserted in GaN matrix. This quasi-2D InGaN layer was successfully achieved by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and an excellent in-plane uniformity in this layer was confirmed by cathodoluminescence mapping study. The carrier dynamics have also been investigated by time-resolved and excitation-power-dependent photoluminescence, proving that the recombination occurs via confined excitons within the ultrathin quasi-2D InGaN layer even at high temperature up to ~220 K due to the enhanced exciton binding energy. This work indicates that such structure affords an interesting opportunity for developing high-performance photonic devices.

Indium Compositional Homogeneity in In0.17Al0.83N Epilayers Grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

The spatial distribution features of indium composition in In0.17Al0.83N epilayers have been investigated by means of cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence. It is demonstrated that there is excellent compositional homogeneity in In0.17Al0.83N, implying there is almost no phase separation that would cause compositional inhomogeneity. This result is quite different from the case in InxGa1-xN alloys. Based on the analysis of the temperature–mole fraction (T–x) phase diagram, we believe that the In0.17Al0.83N alloy is metastable against local decomposition. The high kinetic energy barrier caused by the considerable covalent bond mismatch between Al–N and In–N is supposed to account for the realization of such a metastable state.

Anomalous temperature-dependent photoluminescence peak energy in InAlN alloys

InAlN has been studied by means of temperature-dependent time-integrated photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence. The variation of PL peak energy did not follow the behavior predicted by Varshni formula, and a faster redshift with increasing temperature was observed. We used a model that took account of the thermal activation and thermal transfer of localized excitons to describe and explain the observed behavior. A good fitting to the experiment result is obtained. We believe the anomalous temperature dependence of PL peak energy shift can be attributed to the temperature-dependent redistribution of localized excitons induced by thermal activation and thermal transfer in the strongly localized states. V-shaped defects are thought to be a major factor causing the strong localized states in our In0.153Al0.847N sample.