EE 232: Lightwave Devices

Lecture #12 – Spontaneous emission

Instructor: Seth A. Fortuna

Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

University of California, Berkeley

2/28/2019
 Two-level system
Spontaneous emission Absorption Stimulated emission

E2

E1

A21 = Spontaneous emission rate dN 2

= − A21 N 2 − B21  (  ) N 2 + B12  (  ) N1
B21  (  ) = Stimulated emission rate dt
B12  (  ) = Absorption rate
 (  ) = Spectral photon density dN 2
= 0 (steady state)
dt
A21 / B21
→  ( ) =
( N1 / N 2 )( B12 / B21 ) − 1

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 2

Photon mode density
We place our two-level system in a “cavity”
What are the density of photon modes in this cavity?

1
Mode density = 
V k
1 2d 3k (factor of 2 accounts
= 
V (2 )3 / V for polarization)
8 k 2 dk
=
(2 )3
k 2 dk c d c
= = k =
V
2 n dk n

 2 (c n) d ( )
2

= “cavity”
2 c/n
 2 n3
=  2 3 d ( )
 c  2 n3
 mode = 2 3 (modes/cm3/eV)
=   mode d (  )  c
Fortuna – E3S Seminar 3
Relations between the coefficients
1
n ph (  ) = Bose-Einstein distribution
 
exp   −1 (photons per state)
 kT 

 (  ) =  mode (  )n ph (  )
 2 n3 1
 ( ) = 2 3
 c  
exp   −1
 kT 
These equations must be
equal to each other. This is
Recall, we also derived only possible if:

 ( ) =
A21 / B21  
N1 N 2 = exp  
( N1 / N 2 )( B12 / B21 ) − 1  kT 
B12 = B21

A21 B21 =  mode (  )

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 4
Spontaneous emission
Transition rate from R2→1 = A21 N 2 + B21  (  ) N 2
State 2 to State 1
= B21  mode (  ) N 2 + B21  mode (  )n ph (  ) N 2
= N 2 B21  mode (  ) 1 + n ph (  ) 

stimulated stimulated
emission emission
from one from 𝒏𝒑𝒉
photon in photons in
each mode each mode

Spontaneous emission can be interpreted as the stimulated emission

from a single photon in each optical mode.

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 5

Spontaneous emission in semiconductor
2 2 C
=  H cv  ( Ee − Eh −  ) f c (1 − f v )
2
rspon
V kc kv
2
qA0
H cv =  c − eˆ  p  v
2

2m0 
We need to relate the magnitude
of the vector potential to the
mode density.
V
 mode (  )(1)V 
EM energy density =
V
=  mode (  ) 

2  mode (  ) 
1
EM energy density = 0 n 2 E02 A =
2

0 
0 2 2
2 n
1
= 0 n 2 2 A0 2 2n
=
2
Fortuna – E3S Seminar
 2c3 6
 Spontaneous emission in semiconductor
2 2
rspon (  ) =  cv  ( Ee − Eh −  ) f c (1 − f v )
2
H
V kc kv
2 2 q 2 2n 
2 3  cv  ( Ee − Eh −  ) f c (1 − f v )
=
2
H
V (2m0 ) 0 c kc kv
2

 n 2 2 
= C0  2 2   eˆ  p cv  ( Ee − Eh −  ) f c (1 − f v )
2

  c  kc kv

Spontaneous emission spectrum cm3s -1eV -1

 n 2 2 
rspon ,bulk (  ) = C0  2 2  eˆ  p cv  r ,bulk (  − Eg ) f c (  − Eg )(1 − f v (  − Eg ))
2

 c 

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 7

Spontaneous emission spectrum

GaAs (bulk)
T = 300K

n = 2×1018cm -3

n = 1×1018cm -3

n = 5×1017 cm -3

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 8

Spontaneous emission spectrum
− (  − Eg )
  r (  − Eg ) e kT

For   Eg
Limited by density of states
rspon   r (  − Eg )

For  Fc − Fv
Limited by filling of states
− (  − Eg )

rspon  e kT

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 9

Low-injection C

For low-injection (Quasi-Fermi levels are within the bandgap)

 Fc − Eg − (  − Eg )(mr* me* ) 
f c exp   Fc
 kT
  Fv
 −(  − Eg )(mr* mh* ) − Fv 
(1 − f v ) ~ exp  
 kT
  V
 Fc − Eg − (  − Eg )(mr* me* ) − (  − Eg )(mr* mh* ) − Fv 
f c (1 − f v ) exp  
 kT
 

 −(  − Eg )   − Eg   Fc − Fv 
= exp   exp   exp  
 kT   kT   kT 
 −(  − Eg )  np
= exp  
 kT  Nc Nv N c ,N v (effective density of states)

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 10

Radiative rate
 n 2 2   −(  − Eg )  np
rspon ,bulk (  ) = C0  2 2  e  p cv  r ,bulk (  − Eg ) exp 
2
ˆ 
 c   kT  Nc Nv

Radiative rate
Rrad =  rspon ,bulk (  )d (  ) = B0 np
cm -3s -1

Material B0 (cm3s -1 )
GaAs 2.0 10−10
InP 1.2 10−10
GaN 2.2 10−10
GaP 3.9 10−13
Si 3.2 10−14
Ge 2.8 10−13

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 11

 Quantum well
 n 2 2  1

2
rspon ,QW = C0  2 2  en
I hm | eˆ  p cv |2  r ,QW H (  − Ehm
en
) f c (  − Ehm
en
)(1 − f v (  − Ehm
en
)
  c  Lz hh ,lh n , m

C1 − HH 1

C1 − LH 1

n = 2×1018cm -3

n = 1×1018cm -3

n = 5×1017 cm -3

InGaAs/InP quantum well

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 12
Note: Linewidth effects are ignored 6nm thick, T=300K
 Light emitting diodes

“yellow-gap”

FortunaVol.
Krames et al. Journal of Display Technology, – E3S3,
Seminar
No. 2, June 2007 13
 Thin-film flip chip flip chip vertically-injected thin film

Source: Compound Semiconductor

Fortuna – E3S Seminar 14

Source: Lumileds