Free carrier and many-body effects in absorption spectra of modulation-doped quantum wells

The temperature-dependent optical absorption and luminescence spectra of GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/InAlAs n-doped modulation-doped quantum wells is discussed with emphasis on the peak seen at the edge of the absorption spectra of these samples. A many-body calculation of the electron-hole correlation enhancement is presented, which identifies this peak with the Mahan exciton-the result of the Coulomb interaction between the photoexcited hole in the valence band and the sea of electrons in the conduction band. This calculation accounts for the strong dependence of the absorption edge peak on both the temperature and carrier concentration, in good qualitative agreement with experimental data and with previously published results. The changes induced by the carriers on the subband structure through self-consistent calculations are also analyzed, and it is concluded that in these symmetric structures, the changes are small for achievable carrier densities.<>