Giant optical anisotropy in M-plane GaN/AlGaN quantum wells due to crystal-field effect

The optical polarization of GaN/AlGaN wurtzite quantum wells in various orientations is studied using an arbitrarily-oriented [ h k i l ] Hamiltonian potential matrix. The optical matrix elements in the wurtzite quantum wells are calculated using the k ⋅ p finite difference scheme. The results revea...

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Published inPhysics letters. A Vol. 372; no. 37; pp. 5915 - 5917
Main Authors Chen, Chun-Nan, Su, Wei-Long, Chang, Kuo-Ching, Chang, Sheng-Hsiung, Chiang, Jih-Chen, Lo, Ikai, Wang, Wan-Tsang, Kao, Hsiu-Fen, Lee, Meng-En
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 08.09.2008
Subjects
Crystal field
M-plane
Optical anisotropy
Valence band mixing
Wurtzite
78.55.Cr
Wurtzite
68.65.Fg
M-plane
Crystal field
Valence band mixing
78.67.De
Optical anisotropy
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Summary:The optical polarization of GaN/AlGaN wurtzite quantum wells in various orientations is studied using an arbitrarily-oriented [ h k i l ] Hamiltonian potential matrix. The optical matrix elements in the wurtzite quantum wells are calculated using the k ⋅ p finite difference scheme. The results reveal the presence of giant in-plane optical anisotropy (polarized normal to [0001]) in the M-plane (i.e., the ( 10 1 ¯ 0 ) -oriented layer plane) GaN/Al 0.2Ga 0.8N quantum well, due to the positive crystal-field split energy effect ( Δ CR > 0 ). The present theoretical results are consistent with the photoluminescence measurements presented in the literature [B. Rau, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 77 (2000) 3343].
ISSN:0375-9601
1873-2429
DOI:10.1016/j.physleta.2008.07.048