%0 Journal Article
%T Suppression of phonon-mediated hot carrier relaxation in type-II InAs/AlAs$_{x}$Sb$_{1-x}$ quantum wells: a practical route to hot carrier solar cells
%A H. Esmaielpour
%A V. R. Whiteside
%A J. Tang
%A S. Vijeyaragunathan
%A T. D. Mishima
%A S. Cairns
%A M. B. Santos
%A B. Wang
%A I. R. Sellers
%J Physics
%D 2015
%I arXiv
%X InAs/AlAs$_{x}$Sb$_{1-x}$ quantum wells are investigated for their potential as hot carrier solar cells. Continuous wave power and temperature dependent photoluminescence indicate a transition in the dominant hot carrier relaxation process from conventional phonon-mediated carrier relaxation below 90 K to a regime where inhibited radiative recombination dominates the hot carrier relaxation at elevated temperatures. At temperatures below 90 K photoluminescence measurements are consistent with type-I quantum wells that exhibit hole localization associated with alloy/interface fluctuations. At elevated temperatures hole delocalization reveals the true type-II band alignment; where it is observed that inhibited radiative recombination due to the spatial separation of the charge carriers dominates hot carrier relaxation. This decoupling of phonon-mediated relaxation results in robust hot carriers at higher temperatures even at lower excitation powers. These results indicate type-II quantum wells offer potential as practical hot carrier systems.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.00042v1