Time-resolved photoluminescence and steady-state optical investigations of a Zn1-xCdxSe/ZnSe quantum well

We report on time-integrated and time-resolved optical experiments performed on a 26 Angstrom thick Zn-0.85 Cd-0.15 Se/ZnSe quantum well, for temperatures in the 10-200 K range. Excitation spectroscoy allows an estimation of the relative valence band offset, which is found to be 10%. From the temperature variation of the decay time of the photoluminescence performed reasonantly on the e1h1 excitonic transition, we deduce that the main non-radiative mechanism is the heavy-hole thermal escape out of the well.