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Photoluminescence and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectroscopies are used to investigate the formation and role of defects in GaAs/GaNxAs1-x core/shell nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si substrates. Gallium vacancies, which act as non-radiative recombination (NRR) centers, are identified by ODMR. It is shown that the defects are formed in bulk regions, i.e., not on the surface, of the GaNAs shell and that their concentration increases with increasing nitrogen content. Temperature dependent photoluminescence experiments reveal, on the other hand, suppressed thermal quenching of the near-band-edge emission with increasing [N]. This leads to the conclusion that the dominant NRR processes in the studied NWs are governed by surface defects, whereas the role of gallium vacancies in the observed thermally activated NRR is minor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiative carrier recombination processes in GaAs/GaNAs core/shell nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a Si substrate are systematically investigated by employing microphotoluminescence (μ-PL) and μ-PL excitation (μ-PLE) measurements complemented by time-resolved PL spectroscopy. At low temperatures, alloy disorder is found to cause localization of photo-excited carriers leading to predominance of optical transitions from localized excitons (LE). Some of the local fluctuations in N composition are suggested to lead to strongly localized three-dimensional confining potential equivalent to that for quantum dots, based on the observation of sharp and discrete PL lines within the LE contour. The localization effects are found to have minor influence on PL spectra at room temperature due to thermal activation of the localized excitons to extended states. Under these conditions, photo-excited carrier lifetime is found to be governed by non-radiative recombination via surface states which is somewhat suppressed upon N incorporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive time-resolved photoluminescence and magneto-optical measurements are performed on a bound exciton (BX) line peaking at 3.3621 eV (labeled as I") Though the energy position of I" lies within the same energy range as that for donor bound exciton (DX) transitions, its behavior in an applied magnetic field is found to be distinctly different from that observed for DXs bound to either ionized or neutral donors. An exciton bound to an isoelectronic center with a hole-attractive local potential is shown to provide a satisfactory model that can account for all experimental results of the I" transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-resolved and magneto-photoluminescence (PL) studies are performed for the so-called I6B and I7B excitonic transitions, previously attributed to neutral donor bound excitons involving a hole from the B valence band (VB), D0XB. It is shown that PL decays of these emissions at 2 K are faster than that of their I6 and I7 counterparts involving an A VB hole, which is interpreted as being due to energy relaxation of the hole assisted by acoustic phonons. From the magneto-PL measurements, values of effective Landé g factors for conduction electrons and B VB holes are determined as ge = 1.91, gh//=1.79, and gh⊥=0, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) is employed to characterize optical quality of ZnO tetrapods. PL decay of free excitons (FE) is concluded to contain two components with time constants of 1 and 14 ns at room temperature. The fast PL decay is attributed to nonradiative recombination whereas the slow decay is suggested to mainly represent FE radiative lifetime, based on correlation between thermally induced increases in the PL linewidth and FE lifetimes. The results underline superior optical quality of the tetrapods as the decay time of the slow PL component is comparable to the longest lifetimes reported to date for ZnO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature dependent photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopies are employed to investigate free exciton (FX) emissions in ZnO tetrapods. The intensity of the no-phonon line is found to be largely suppressed as compared with longitudinal optical phonon assisted transitions, in sharp contrast to bulk ZnO. From spatially resolved CL studies, this suppression is shown to strongly depend on structural morphology of the ZnO tetrapods and becomes most significant within areas with faceted surfaces. A model based on reabsorption due to multiple internal reflections in the vicinity of the FX resonance is suggested to account for the observed effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive time-resolved photoluminescence measurements are performed on shallow neutral donor bound excitons (D0Xs) in bulk ZnO. It is found that transients of the no-phonon D0X transitions (I6-I9 lines) are largely affected by excitation conditions and change from a bi-exponential decay with characteristic fast (τf) and slow (τs) time constants under above-bandgap excitation to a single exponential one, determined by τs, under two-photon excitation. The slow decay also dominates transients of longitudinal optical phonon-assisted and two-electron-satellite D0X transitions, and is attributed to 'bulk' D0X lifetime. The fast component is tentatively suggested to represent effects of surface recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombination processes in GaP/GaNP core/shell nanowires (NWs) grown on a Si substrate by molecular beam epitaxy are examined using a variety of optical characterization techniques, including cw- and time-resolved photoluminescence and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). Superior optical quality of the structures is demonstrated based on the observation of intense emission from a single NW at room temperature. This emission is shown to originate from radiative transitions within N-related localized states. From ODMR, growth of GaP/GaNP NWs is also found to facilitate formation of complex defects containing a P atom at its core that act as centers of competing non-radiative recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]