Optical studies of the correlation between interface disorder and the photoluminescence line shape in GaAs/InGaP quantum wells

Photoluminescence (PL) and excitation PL measurements have been performed at different temperatures in a number of lattice-matched GaAs/In0.49Ga0.51P quantum wells, where the fluctuations of the potential energy are comparable with the thermal energy of the photocreated carriers. Two samples with different well widths allow to observe a series of anomalous effects in their optical response. The observed effects are related to the disorder in the interface, characterizing fluctuations in the confinement potential energy. It is proposed that the carrier relaxation processes occur either at the local minima or at the absolute minimum of the confinement potential, depending on the ratio of the thermal energy and the magnitude of the potential fluctuations.