Hot electron luminescence spectroscopy of GaAs shows polarization dependent lineshape variations of 0.5 approximately 1.0 meV. It is shown how a lineshape model which includes a k.p calculation of the band structure, optical transition matrix elements in the dipole model, and lifetime broadening, is able to explain these polarization effects. For linearly polarized excitation, the observation arises from the optical alignment of the hot electron momenta, while for circularly polarized excitation the effect is caused by transitions between specific electronic spin states identifiable by a selection rule.

Date Published: 21 October 1992
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1677, Ultrafast Lasers Probe Phenomena in Semiconductors and Superconductors, (21 October 1992); doi: 10.1117/12.137690

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1677:
Ultrafast Lasers Probe Phenomena in Semiconductors and Superconductors
Robert R. Alfano, Editor(s)