Electric field dependent radiative decay kinetics of polar InGaN/GaN quantum heterostructures at low fields

Electric field dependent photoluminescence decay kinetics and its radiative component are studied in polar InGaN/GaN quantum heterostructures at low fields. Under externally applied electric field lower than polarization fields, spectrally and time resolved photoluminescence measurements are taken to retrieve internal quantum efficiencies and carrier lifetimes as a function of the applied field. Subsequently, relative behavior of radiative recombination lifetimes is obtained in response to the applied field. In these characterizations of polar InGaN/GaN structures, we observe that both the carrier lifetime and the radiative recombination lifetime decrease with increasing external electric field, with the radiative component exhibiting weaker field dependence. © 2009 American Institute of Physics