Photoluminescence study of low temperature epitaxial growth Yb-doped Al_xGa_1-xAs

Yb-doped Al_xGa_1-xAs (x=0–1) was fabricated by low temperature epitaxial growth using a molecular beam epitaxy method. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were performed in a temperature range between 1.6 and 150 K. Three sharp PL peaks due to intra-4f transition of Yb were observed around λ=1 μm in samples with x≥0.3, whereas samples with x≪0.3 show no PL peak in this region. Irrespective of wide variety of the Al contents x, PL intensities of these peaks show a similar rapid thermal quenching above 100 K. Furthermore, a broad and intense PL band was found at around 1.4 eV. © 2004 American Institute of Physics.