The effect of Auger recombination on the nonequilibrium carrier recombination rate in the InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb quantum wells

Time dependencies of interband photoluminescence are studied in InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb quantum well structures with various barrier materials and quantum well widths. The experimentally determined dependencies of photoluminescence intensity on the optical pumping level are compared with calculated dependencies of photoluminescence intensity on the nonequilibrium carrier concentration. Time of charge carrier trapping into quantum wells and the energy relaxation time related to the polar optical phonon emission were obtained from analysis of the photoluminescence dynamics at different optical pumping levels. The recombination rates with respect to nonradiative Shockley–Read–Hall and Auger recombination were determined. It is shown that, at certain parameter sets, resonant Auger recombination can exist in InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb quantum well structures, which should results in the decrease of the concentration of carriers taking part in the radiative recombination.