Super-radiant surface emission from a quasi-cavity hot electron light emitter


O'Brien A., Balkan N., Boland-Thoms A., Adams M., Roberts J.

OPTICAL AND QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, vol.31, no.2, pp.183-190, 1999 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 31 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 1999
  • Doi Number: 10.1023/a:1006961123975
  • Journal Name: OPTICAL AND QUANTUM ELECTRONICS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.183-190
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

The Hot Electron Light Emitting and Lasing in Semiconductor Heterostructure (HELLISH-1) device is a novel surface emitter which utilises hot carrier transport parallel to the layers of a Ga(1-x)Al(x)As p-n junction incorporating a single GaAs quantum well on the n-side of the junction plane. Non-equilibrium electrons are injected into the quantum well via tunnelling from the n-layer. in order to preserve the charge neutrality in the depletion region, the junction undergoes a self-induced internal biasing. As a result the built-in potential on the p-side is reduced and hence the injection of non-equilibrium holes into the quantum well in the active region is enhanced. The work presented here shows that a distributed Bragg reflector grown below the active region of the HELLISH device increases the emitted light intensity by two orders of magnitude and reduces the emission line-width by about a factor of 3 in comparison with the original HELLISH-1 structure. Therefore, the device can be operated as an ultrabright emitter with higher spectral purity.