The role of potential fluctuations in continuous-wave donor-acceptor pair luminescence of heavily doped materials

It has recently become apparent that "standard" (low-concentration and low-compensation) theory for donor-acceptor pair (DAP) photoluminescence (PL) is totally incapable of explaining results in highly doped and compensated material. It can be noted that such material is often of high technological interest. It has been argued, mainly qualitatively, that the discrepancies result from potential fluctuations due to random ionic charges. We here present a quantitative theory for cw DAP PL, using an approximate model. We also present data for the concentration and intensity dependence of DAP PL in heavily doped ZnSe:N, and show that the results are explained very satisfactorily by our fluctuation model. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)01135-3].