Binding energy and dephasing of biexcitons in In0.18Ga0.82As/GaAs single quantum wells

Biexciton binding energies and biexciton dephasing in In0.18Ga0.82As/GaAs s ingle quantum wells have been measured by time-integrated and spectrally re solved four-wave mixing. The biexciton binding energy increases from 1.5 to 2.6 meV for well widths increasing from 1 to 4 nm. The ratio between excit on and biexciton binding energy changes from 0.23 to 0.3 with increasing in homogeneous broadening, corresponding to increasing well width. From the te mperature dependence of the exciton and biexciton four-wave mixing signal d ecay, we have deduced the acoustic-phonon scattering of the exciton-biexcit on transition. It is found to be comparable to that of the exciton transiti on, indicating that the deformation potential interactions for the exciton and the exciton-biexciton transitions are comparable. [S0163-1829(99)07931- X].