Photomodulated reflectance study of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs/AlAs microcavity vertical-cavity surface emitting laser structures in the weak-coupling regime: The cavity/ground-state-exciton resonance
Pj. Klar et al., Photomodulated reflectance study of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs/AlAs microcavity vertical-cavity surface emitting laser structures in the weak-coupling regime: The cavity/ground-state-exciton resonance, PHYS REV B, 59(4), 1999, pp. 2894-2901
Two InGaAs/GaAs/AlAs vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) structu
res have been studied by conventional reflectance (R) and photomodulated re
flectance (PR) spectroscopies at similar to 300 K and similar to 80 K. Grow
th variations across the samples (<2%) give rise to smooth changes in the c
avity mode energy so that it can be tuned through the position of resonance
with the quantum well (QW) ground-state exciton, by varying the position o
f measurement. The R spectra show the cavity mode but at best only a weak e
xcitonic feature. In contrast, the PR shows two prominent and distinct sign
als, and there is a strong enhancement (up, to 40 times) at resonance. A th
eory has been developed for the PR modulation of the coupled cavity and exc
iton modes, based on energy dependent Seraphin coefficients. This was used
to fit all the PR spectra simultaneously in each complete set of position d
ependent measurements, using seven parameters, only one of which, the cavit
y mode energy, varied significantly. The resulting cavity made and excitoni
c energies do not clearly slow an anticrossing behavior near resonance, imp
lying only a weak exciton-cavity coupling. The ability of PR to detect, in
a nondestructive manner, both the cavity and exciton modes, and the extent
to which they are in resonance, suggests it could be extremely useful in th
e characterization of VCSEL structures near their operating temperature. [S
0163-1829(99)01904-9].