Electro-optic exciton nonlinearities in ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Cd}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se/ZnSe multiple quantum wells

The quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Cd}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se/ZnSe multiple quantum wells embedded in the intrinsic region of p-i-n photodiodes has been investigated by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy under applied bias and photocurrent spectroscopy. Room-temperature excitonic bleaching is observed at reverse biases as low as 3 V. Both the redshift and the reduction of the oscillator strength of the excitonic emission have been calculated by means of a variational model. We use the same model to clarify the main specific features of the QCSE in II-VI materials. © 1996 The American Physical Society.