Abstract
A systematic study of the theoretical acceptor-related photoluminescence spectra in a cylindrical GaAs-(Ga,Al)As quantum-well wire is performed. The acceptor states are described within a variational scheme in the effective-mass approximation. Photoluminescence spectra associated with acceptors are calculated for both homogeneous and on-center spike-doped distributions of acceptors in the quantum-well wire. Results are dependent on the temperature, on the choice of the quasi-Fermi-energy level of the conduction-subband electron gas, and on the distribution of acceptors in the wire. The photoluminescence spectra corresponding to the on-center spike-doped Gaussian distribution (width of the doping spike of the order of 50 Å) shows a peak for energies associated with on-center impurity states, as is expected, whereas for a homogeneous distribution of acceptors in the well we essentially found an edge in the spectra associated with transitions involving on-center acceptors and a peaked structure related to the onset of transitions from the conduction subband to on-edge acceptors. Although no experimental results for GaAs-(Ga,Al)As quantum-well wires are available, our results agree qualitatively with previous theoretical and experimental work on GaAs-(Ga,Al)As quantum-well heterostructures.
- Received 10 April 1991
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.45.6742
©1992 American Physical Society