Temperature and excitation-density-dependent photoluminescence in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of a GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7 As quantum well (QW) under continuous-wave excitation have been recorded over wide temperature and excitation-density ranges. Thus, a two-dimensional set of data points has been obtained. The temperature dependence as well as the excitation-density dependence of the PL intensity I-PL are described by a simple model of free-carrier recombination with bimolecular radiative and monomolecular nonradiative recombination. The model explains the existence of a temperature interval at intermediate temperatures where I-PL decreases only with a small activation energy and the shrinkage of this interval with increasing excitation density. It also accounts for different activation energies occurring in Arrhenius plots of I-PL and of the radiative decay time tau(PL), as reported in the literature. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.