High-Efficiency Energy Up-Conversion by an "Auger Fountain" at an InP-AIInas Type-II Heterojunction

Abstract

Luminescence of bulk InP at 1.41 eV is observed when photoexciting a type-II InP-AIInAs single heterojunction above the spatially indirect band gap at 1.23 eV. This energy up-conversion effect, which is extremely efficient even at moderate pump power, is due to an "Auger fountain" mechanism producing high energy holes which redistribute over the heterostructure and recombine with native electrons in the InP layer. The analysis of this phenomenon suggests technological applications as well as analogies with other fields like photochemistry.