Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling
Abstract Hot electrons established by the absorption of high-energy photons typically thermalize on a picosecond time scale in a semiconductor, dissipating energy via various phonon-mediated relaxation pathways. Here it is shown that a strong hot carrier distribution can be produced using a type-II...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30894-9 |
| _version_ | 1818993641120595968 |
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| author | Hamidreza Esmaielpour Vincent R. Whiteside Herath P. Piyathilaka Sangeetha Vijeyaragunathan Bin Wang Echo Adcock-Smith Kenneth P. Roberts Tetsuya D. Mishima Michael B. Santos Alan D. Bristow Ian R. Sellers |
| author_facet | Hamidreza Esmaielpour Vincent R. Whiteside Herath P. Piyathilaka Sangeetha Vijeyaragunathan Bin Wang Echo Adcock-Smith Kenneth P. Roberts Tetsuya D. Mishima Michael B. Santos Alan D. Bristow Ian R. Sellers |
| author_sort | Hamidreza Esmaielpour |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Hot electrons established by the absorption of high-energy photons typically thermalize on a picosecond time scale in a semiconductor, dissipating energy via various phonon-mediated relaxation pathways. Here it is shown that a strong hot carrier distribution can be produced using a type-II quantum well structure. In such systems it is shown that the dominant hot carrier thermalization process is limited by the radiative recombination lifetime of electrons with reduced wavefunction overlap with holes. It is proposed that the subsequent reabsorption of acoustic and optical phonons is facilitated by a mismatch in phonon dispersions at the InAs-AlAsSb interface and serves to further stabilize hot electrons in this system. This lengthens the time scale for thermalization to nanoseconds and results in a hot electron distribution with a temperature of 490 K for a quantum well structure under steady-state illumination at room temperature. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:45:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d9f5f1d9085f4669a7ba19f8c0b761d5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:45:17Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-d9f5f1d9085f4669a7ba19f8c0b761d52022-12-21T19:27:04ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222018-08-01811910.1038/s41598-018-30894-9Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon couplingHamidreza Esmaielpour0Vincent R. Whiteside1Herath P. Piyathilaka2Sangeetha Vijeyaragunathan3Bin Wang4Echo Adcock-Smith5Kenneth P. Roberts6Tetsuya D. Mishima7Michael B. Santos8Alan D. Bristow9Ian R. Sellers10Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, West Virginia UniversityDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaSchool of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, University of OklahomaDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of TulsaDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of TulsaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, West Virginia UniversityDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of OklahomaAbstract Hot electrons established by the absorption of high-energy photons typically thermalize on a picosecond time scale in a semiconductor, dissipating energy via various phonon-mediated relaxation pathways. Here it is shown that a strong hot carrier distribution can be produced using a type-II quantum well structure. In such systems it is shown that the dominant hot carrier thermalization process is limited by the radiative recombination lifetime of electrons with reduced wavefunction overlap with holes. It is proposed that the subsequent reabsorption of acoustic and optical phonons is facilitated by a mismatch in phonon dispersions at the InAs-AlAsSb interface and serves to further stabilize hot electrons in this system. This lengthens the time scale for thermalization to nanoseconds and results in a hot electron distribution with a temperature of 490 K for a quantum well structure under steady-state illumination at room temperature.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30894-9 |
| spellingShingle | Hamidreza Esmaielpour Vincent R. Whiteside Herath P. Piyathilaka Sangeetha Vijeyaragunathan Bin Wang Echo Adcock-Smith Kenneth P. Roberts Tetsuya D. Mishima Michael B. Santos Alan D. Bristow Ian R. Sellers Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling Scientific Reports |
| title | Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| title_full | Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| title_fullStr | Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| title_short | Enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| title_sort | enhanced hot electron lifetimes in quantum wells with inhibited phonon coupling |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30894-9 |
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