Ultrafast carrier dynamics in GaN nanorods

We present ultrafast time-resolved optical spectroscopy on GaN nanorods at room temperature. The studied GaN nanorods, with diameters of similar to 50 nm and lengths of similar to 400 nm, were grown on the silicon substrate. After femtosecond optical pulses excited carriers in the GaN nanorods, the carriers thermalized within a few picoseconds. Subsequently, the electrons are trapped by the surface states on the order of 20 ps. After the surface electric field was reformed in the GaN nanorods, we found the lifetime of the residue carriers in GaN nanorods is longer than 1.7 ns at room temperature, while the lifetime of carriers in GaN thin film is typically a few hundred picoseconds. Our findings indicate that GaN nanorods have higher electrical quality compared with GaN thin film. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.