Carrier dynamics in quantum-dot tunnel-injection structures: Microscopic theory and experiment

Abstract

Tunneling-injection structures are incorporated in semiconductor lasers in order to overcome the fundamental dynamical limitation due to hot carrier injection by providing a carrier transport path from a cold carrier reservoir. The tunneling process itself depends on band alignment between quantum-dot levels and the injector quantum well, especially as in these devices LO-phonon scattering is dominant. Quantum dots with their first excited state near the quantum well bottom profit the most from tunnel coupling. As inhomogeneous broadening is omnipresent in quantum dot structures, this implies that individual members of the ensemble couple differently to the injector quantum well. Quantum dots with higher energy profit less, as the phonon couples to higher, less occupied states. Likewise, if the energy difference between ground state and quantum well exceeds the LO-phonon energy, scattering becomes increasingly inefficient. Therefore, within 20–30 meV, we find quantum dots that benefit substantially different from the tunnel coupling. Furthermore, in quantum dots with increasing confinement depth, excited states become successively confined. Here, scattering gets more efficient again, as subsequent excited states reach the phonon resonance with the quantum well bottom. Our results provide guidelines for the optimization of tunnel-injection lasers. Theoretical results for electronic state calculations in connection with carrier–phonon and carrier–carrier scattering are compared to the experimental results of the temporal gain recovery after a short pulse perturbation.