Interplay of phonon and disorder scattering in semiconductor quantum wells

A. Thränhardt, C. Ell, S. Mosor, G. Rupper, G. Khitrova, M. Gibbs, W. Koch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The interplay of radiative relaxation, structural disorder, and phonon scattering on the quantum-well absorption is studied at the level of a fully microscopic theory. Treating light field, phonon, and disorder coupling quantum mechanically, the theory accurately describes the quantum-well absorption for different degrees of disorder at different temperatures. The results show that disorder, phonon, and radiative broadening are not simply additive. The 1s–exciton resonance deviates from the Lorentzian absorption line shape for narrow linewidths even when only homogeneous broadening is included. Good agreement with experimental absorption measurements on an In0.04Ga0.96As/GaAs quantum-well structure is obtained. It is shown that only a careful evaluation of the comprehensive microscopic model can reliably identify homogeneous and inhomogeneous contributions to the linewidth.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume68
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 15 2003

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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