arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Bhavtosh Bansal.
InAs_{x}Sb_{1-x} alloys show a strong bowing in the energy gap, the energy gap of the alloy can be less than the gap of the two parent compounds. We demonstrate that a consequence of this alloying is a systematic degradation in the sharpness of the absorption edge. The alloy disorder induced band-tail (Urbach tail) characteristics are quantitatively studied for InAs_{0.05}Sb_{0.95}.
Photo-excited carriers, distributed among the localized states of self-assembled quantum dots, often show very anomalous temperature dependent photoluminescence characteristics. The temperature dependence of the peak emission energy may be non-monotonic and the emission linewidth can get narrower with increasing temperature. This paper describes a quasi-thermodynamic model that naturally explains these observations. Specifically, we introduce a temperature dependent function to parameterize the degree of thermalization of carriers. This function allows us to continuously interpolate between the well-defined low and high temperature limits of the carrier distribution function and describe the observed anomalies in the photoluminescence spectra with just two fitting parameters. We show that the description is equivalent to assuming that the partially thermalized carriers continue to be described by equilibrium statistics, but with a higher effective temperature. Our treatment of the problem is computationally simpler than the usually employed rate equations based analyses [e.g. Sanguinetti, et al. Phys. Rev. B 60, 8276 (1999)], which typically also have many more under-determined fitting parameters. The model is extended to quantum dots with a bimodal size distribution.
We have investigated the specific heat and resistivity of a single crystal of Pr_{0.63}Ca_{0.37}MnO_3 around the charge ordering (CO) transition temperature, T_{CO}, in the presence of high magnetic fields (<=12T) which can melt the charge ordered state. At low magnetic fields (<=10T), the manganite transforms from a charge-disordered paramagnetic insulating (PI) state to a charge-ordered insulating (COI) state as the temperature is lowered. The COI state becomes unstable beyond a threshold magnetic field and melts to a ferromagnetic metallic phase (FMM). This occurs for T < T_{CO}. However, above a critical field μ_0H_ρ^*, the sample shows the onset of a metallic phase for T>T_{CO} and the COI transition occurs from a metallic phase. The onset temperature of the high-field metallic behavior decreases with an increase in the field and above a field μ_0H^*, the COI transition does not occur and the CO state ceases to occur at all T. The entropy change involved in the CO transition, ΔS_{CO}~1.6J/molK at 0T, decreases with increasing field and eventually vanishes for a field μ_0H^*. The collapse of the CO state above μ_0$H$^* is thus associated with a collapse of the entropy that stabilizes the CO state.
The effect of alloy disorder on the optical density of states and the average room temperature carrier statistics in GaInNAs quantum wells is discussed. A red shift between the peak of the room temperature photoluminescence and the surface photovoltage spectra, that systematically increases with the nitrogen content within the quantum wells is observed. The relationship between this Stokes' shift and the absorption linewidth in different samples suggests that the photoexcited carriers undergo a continuous transition, from being in quasi-thermal equilibrium with the lattice to being completely trapped by the quantum dot-like potential fluctuations, as the nitrogen fraction in the alloy is increased. The values of the 'electron temperature' inferred from the photoluminescence spectra are found to be consistent with this interpretation.
The effect of Landau level formation on the population of intrinsic electrons in InSb is probed near room temperature in magnetic fields upto 16 Tesla. Although the measured magnetic field dependence of the Hall coefficient is qualitatively similar to published results, it is shown that the data may also be explained by simply including ambipolar conduction. Thus the inference on band depopulation drawn from previous measurements on InSb is inconclusive unless both the Hall and the magnetoresistive components of the resistivity tensor are simultaneously measured and modelled. When the model includes both depopulation and ambipolar conduction, a reasonable agreement with theory can be established.
A systematic manipulation of the morphology and the optical emission properties of MOVPE grown ensembles of InAs/InP quantum dots is demonstrated by changing the growth kinetics parameters. Under non-equilibrium conditions of a comparatively higher growth rate and low growth temperature, the quantum dot density, their average size and hence the peak emission wavelength can be tuned by changing efficiency of the surface diffusion (determined by the growth temperature) relative to the growth flux. We further observe that the distribution of quantum dot heights, for samples grown under varying conditions, if normalized to the mean height, can be nearly collapsed onto a single Gaussian curve.
The evolution of InAs quantum dots grown on InP substrates by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy is studied as a function of InAs coverage. Under specific growth conditions, the onset of the two- to three-dimensional transition is seen to proceed via two distinct pathways: through (i) an abrupt appearance of quantum dots as expected in the usual Stranski-Krastanov growth picture and (ii) a continuous evolution of small surface features into well developed quantum dots. The average size of the features in both these families increases with coverage, leading to a bimodal distribution in dot sizes at an intermediate stage of growth evolution that eventually becomes a unimodal distribution as more material is deposited. Complementary information obtained from independent measurements of photoluminescence spectra and surface morphology is correlated and is found to be consistent with the picture of growth proposed.