Kinetics of radiative recombination in strongly excited ZnSe/BeTe superlattices with a type-II band alignment

Abstract

We report results of a detailed investigation of type-II superlattices under high density photoexcitation. A strong spectral shift (≈0.5 eV) of the recombination band corresponding to the indirect transition from the ZnSe conduction band to the BeTe valence band in ZnSe/BeTe superlattices with increasing carrier density has been found at T=300 K. The dynamical characteristics of this transition are studied by time-resolved spectroscopy. A model which accounts for the dependence of band bending and lifetimes of spatially separated electrons and holes on the concentration of the photoexcited carriers is developed. Numerical simulations of the photoluminescence kinetics are in very good agreement with experimental results. It turns out that despite the huge band offsets involved, the radiative recombination under high excitation conditions can be nearly as fast as in spatially direct quantum wells.