Realization of anti-Stokes cooling requires high enough photon extraction efficiency as well as quantum efficiency, making the implementation of this technique extremely difficult for semiconductors. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that the Coulomb interaction between photogenerated electron-hole pairs in strong piezoelectric materials such as GaN/InGaN quantum wells could assist laser cooling. By comparing to the cavity back-action mechanism, we also explain how this process depends upon laser detuning with respect to bandgap. To demonstrate the advantage of this method even further, we present simulations by using experimentally reported parameters of GaN and In_0.15Ga_0.85N, in order to conclude that the net cooling is indeed possible even with current III-nitride growth technology.

Date Published: 19 February 2014
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9000, Laser Refrigeration of Solids VII, 90000M (19 February 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2057424

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9000:
Laser Refrigeration of Solids VII
Richard I. Epstein; Denis V. Seletskiy; Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, Editor(s)