STATISTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORDER-PARAMETER IN SPONTANEOUSLY ORDERED GA0.52IN0.48P ALLOYS

The spontaneously ordered Ga0.52In0.48P alloy comprises domains, each of which is characterized by an order parameter eta. We have used the low-temperature near-field photoluminescence technique with a high spa tial resolution (less than or equal to 2500 Angstrom) to study the sta tistical distribution of the order parameter eta of single-variant ord ered alloys. We have found that for large-domain samples, eta varies o nly slightly between domains and the line width broadening of the exci tonic photoluminescence peak comes mainly from alloy scattering within a single domain rather than from a broad distribution of eta. [S0163- 1829(98)52416-2].