V. S. Dneprovskii (

),
V. P Evtikhiev
*, V. P. Kochereshko
*,
O. A. Shaligina, E. A. Zhukov
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
*Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute RAS, St Petersburg, Russia.
Time-resolved luminescence laser spectroscopy of self-assembled CdSe/ZnSe
quantum dots (QDs) at different intensities of excitation has allowed us to
investigate the processes of carrier injection from the ZnSe matrix to CdSe
Dots, the peculiarities of carrier's recombination in dots of different size,
and nonlinear absorption (phase state filling of excitons) that arises first
of all in dots of greater size.
Molecular beam epitaxy has been used to prepare the samples with one and 10
layers of CdSe/ZnSe self-assembled hemispherical QDs with a typical base of
about 20-30 nm and height of 2-3 nm. The dots in both samples were sandwiched
by 40 nm ZnSe layers grown on GaAs. The layers of QDs in the second sample
were separated by 12 nm ZnSe barriers.
To study the time-resolved spectra of photoluminescence and the kinetics of
luminescence the samples were excited by the focused beam of the second
harmonic (3.1 eV) of the Argon-ion pumped Ti-saphire laser (pulse duration 1.5
ps, repetition rate 82 MHz). Polychromator and synchroscan streak camera with
a two-dimensional detector have been used for registration. The carriers were
excited in the absorbing matrix (ZnSe barrier) and transported to dots. Matrix
rather than QDs was photoexcited because dots are distributed in a thin layer
or layers making the absorption of directly excited carriers in dots very
small. The intensity of of matrix luminescence was was much weaker than that
of CdSe QDs and had a fast (about 10 ps) decay time compared with that of bulk
ZnSe and QDs' relaxation times. The latter and fast rise-times of the
intensity of QDs' luminescence may be explained by carrier diffusion in the
ZnSe barrier and effective injection of carriers from matrix to CdSe QDs.
The fast decay of the luminescence intensity of the high-energy spectral
part compared with that of the low-energy part and the red shift of the
maximum of luminescence spectra in time has been registered in the
time-resolved spectra. Inhomogeneous broadening of the luminescence spectra
reflecting the variation in QDs' sizes must be taken into account. The
peculiarities of CdSe/ZnSe self-assembled QDs' kinetic properties may be the
result of faster recombination of QDs with smaller size. The intensity of
excitation was too low to explain the observed effects by any nonlinear
processes.
The blue shift of the spectra maximum and asymmetrical change of the
spectrum at high excitation by 14 ns pulses of the powerful third harmonic
(3.45 eV) of Nd:YAG-laser (high energy shoulder develops) may be explained by
nonlinear absorption (it is followed by nonlinear dependence of the
luminescence intensity upon the intensity of the exciting beam) that is caused
by phase state filling of excitons. This effect is more efficient in dots of
greater size having longer recombination times. The estimated density of the
created excitons exceeds the necessary density for phase state filling.