Radiative lifetimes, quasi-Fermi-levels, and carrier densities in GaAs-(Ga,Al)As quantum-well photoluminescence under steady-state excitation conditions

A quantum-mechanical calculation of the carrier densities, electron and hole quasi-Fermi-levels, and various radiative decay times in GaAs-(Ga,Al)As quantum wells is performed, under steady-state excitation conditions, as functions of the cw laser intensity, temperature, well widths, and acceptor distribution in the well. We consider the radiative recombination of electrons with free holes and with holes bound at neutral acceptors. Our calculations—which have no free parameters—are in quantitative agreement in the intermediate laser-intensity regime at T=300 K with the results by Ding et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 60, 2051 (1992)], who obtained the carrier density for multiple asymmetric coupled quantum wells through a fitting procedure that reproduced the total experimental photoluminescence intensity. Results for the carrier-dependent e-h recombination decay time are in good agreement with experimental data by Bongiovanni and Staehli [Phys. Rev. B 46, 9861 (1992)].