VERTICAL CARRIER TRANSPORT IN INP-BASED QUANTUM-WELL LASER STRUCTURES

Carrier transport across the quantum wells has been measured for a num ber of InAlGaAs/InP and InGaAsP/InP quantum well laser structures by m eans of time-resolved photoluminescence. For the InAlGaAs structures, the interwell carrier transport times are approximate to 10-20 ps, whi le for the InGaAsP structures they are by a factor of five longer. The experimental results have been successfully described by a model whic h dynamically includes thermionic capture/emission over the quantum we ll interfaces and drift/diffusion in the barrier regions. The faster i nterwell carrier transport for the InAlGaAs structures is found to be a direct consequence of a smaller valence band offset in this material system. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.