Optical studies of acceptor centre doped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

We present a theoretical and experimental study of the optical properties of acceptor centre doped quantum wells. We have performed theoretical calculations for the dependence of the band structure with doping level. Steady state photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation results are compared with theoretical calculations involving exchange and correlation effects for the electron-hole system and the interaction between charge carriers and acceptor ions. We have studied the intensity, energy peak position, and broadening effects for excitons at doping level between 10(8) and 10(13) cm(-2). Theoretical calculations that only consider band filling effects are not sufficient to describe the effect on the band structure due to the doping. A much better agreement is achieved when exchange and correlation effects for the electron-hole system are taken into account. Excitons can still be detected at high hole concentrations, above the degenerated limit. They survive due to the inefficiency of screening in the two-dimensional system.