Optical intersubband transitions in strained quantum wells utilizing In1-xGaxAs/InP solid solutions

Infrared absorption in strained p-type In1-xGaxAs/InP quantum wells is inve stigated for both possible types of strain (tensile and compressive). It is observed that the normal-incidence absorption increases considerably under compressive strain (when the ground state is a heavy-hole state) and decre ases under tensile strain (when the ground state is a light-hole state). Th e peak absorption in the compressed quantum well can attain very large valu es, on the order of 5000 cm(-1) at a hole density similar to 10(12) cm(-2); this attribute makes "compressed'' p-type quantum wells attractive for IR detection applications. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7826 (99)01801-3].