Piezoelectric effects on the optical properties of GaN/AlGaN multiple quant
um wells (MQWs) have been investigated by picosecond time-resolved photolum
inescence (PL) measurements. For MQWs with well thicknesses 30 and 40 Angst
rom, the excitonic transition peak positions at 10 K in continuous wave (cw
) spectra are redshifted with respect to the GaN epilayer by 13 and 45 meV,
respectively. The time-resolved PL spectra of the 30 and 40 Angstrom well
MQWs reveal that the excitonic transition is in fact blueshifted at early d
elay times due to quantum confinement of carriers. The spectral peak positi
on shifts toward lower energies as the delay time increases and becomes red
shifted at longer delay times. We have demonstrated that the results descri
bed above are due to the presence of the piezoelectric field in the GaN wel
ls of GaN/AlGaN MQWs subject to elastic strain together with screening of t
he photoexcited carriers. By comparing experimental and calculation results
, we conclude that the piezoelectric field strength in GaN/Al0.15Ga0.85N MQ
Ws has a lower limit value of about 560 kV/cm. The electron and hole wave f
unction distributions have also been obtained. The implication of our findi
ngs on the practical applications of GaN based optoelectronic devices is al
so discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)04349-
6].