Variational calculation of polarization of quantum-well photoluminescence

Abstract

We calculate for the first time the circular polarization of GaAs/${\mathrm{Ga}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{x}}$${\mathrm{Al}}_{\mathrm{x}}$As quantum-well photoluminescence taking into account the true nonparabolic valence-band structure. Versus the excitation energy, we find high positive polarization for the transition n=1 heavy-hole--to--conduction-band transition and negative polarization at the onset of n=1 light-hole--to--conduction-band transition in qualitative agreement with experiments. We also study the ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{\mathrm{y}}$${\mathrm{In}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{y}}$As/InP system and predict no negative polarization in this case.