Photoluminescence lineshape of narrow n-type modulation-doped quantum wells

Photoluminescence experiments on modulation-doped single quantum wells yield a complex lineshape. A careful analysis of the spectra allows a separation of wavevector conserving and nonconserving transitions. Temperature-dependent measurements show that direct transitions dominate for higher temperatures. From this analysis it is concluded that a low excitation power most of the photogenerated carriers relax to the bottom of the subbands and can be described by a temperature as low as the lattice temperature. The quantitative analysis of the lineshape allows a precise determination of all relevant parameters of the carrier system like effective masses, Fermi energy, carrier concentration in the quantum well and electron and hole temperatures.