Nature and dynamics of carrier escape from InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Abstract In this paper we describe a theoretical model for the dynamics of electrons and holes in InAs/GaAs quantum dots. The key process governing the dynamics is the carrier exchange between quantum dots and the surrounding barriers. We report on two different models that differ in the nature of the carrier exchange mechanism. In the first model electrons and holes are treated as independent carriers, while in the alternative model the carriers are treated as excitons. We show that the two models predict distinctly different behavior of the thermal quenching of the photoluminescence intensity for different pump intensity. Experiments are carried out in order to verify the relevance of theoretical predictions. Comparison between the experimental data and theoretical results suggests that electrons and holes behave as independent species rather than as excitons. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)