Optical properties of ZnO/(Zn, Mg)O quantum wells

Abstract

This paper reviews the optical properties of ZnO/(Zn, Mg)O single quantum wells grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Both heteroepitaxial quantum well growth along the polar c-direction and homoepitaxial quantum well growth on the nonpolar M plane cases are considered. The optical properties of these quantum wells are investigated by using reflectance, continuous wave photoluminescence, and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopies. The quantum-confined Stark effect dominates the properties of the excitons for polar quantum wells. The magnitude of the internal electric field that is induced by both spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations is determined by comparing the experimental results with a variational calculation of excitonic energies and lifetimes. For nonpolar quantum wells, the optical spectra reveal strong in-plane optical anisotropies, as predicted by the group theory. Moreover, the radiative recombination of free excitons is dominating the quantum well photoluminescence even at room temperature.