Measurement of Ultrafast Carrier Recombination Dynamics in Mid-Infrared Semiconductor Laser Material
Abstract
Shockley-Read-Hall, radiative, and Auger recombination rates in mid-infrared laser structures are measured and reported using time resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) frequency upconversion. The mid-IR lasers studied were actual InAsSb/InAlAsSb multiple-quantum-well (MQW) diode lasers emitting near 3.3 micrometers which were previously characterized for laser performance. This effort extends the initial studies and reports on the carrier recombination dynamics. Shockley-Read-Hall, radiative and Auger recombination rates at low temperature (77 K) were measured and found to be A(sub SRH) approx.10 x 10(exp 7)/sec, B(sub rad) approx. 2 x 10(exp -10) cu cm/sec and C(sub Auger) < 10(exp -29) cm(exp 6)/s respectively, for each sample measured. At higher temperatures (150 K), the recombination rates were measured to be A( sub SRH) approx. 40 x 10(exp 7)/sec B(sub rad) approx. 0.78 x 10(exp -10) cu cm/sec and C(sub Auger) <7.0 x 10(exp -28) cm(exp 6)/s respectively. The Auger coefficient reported here is significantly lower than previous reports on similar material from both theoretical and experimental investigations. This has significant implications for mid-IR laser research, in that Auger may not be the limiting problem.