Screening of excitonic states by low-density 2D charge carriers in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Screening of excitonic states by a system of 2D electrons (or holes) in GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum wells is studied. With increasing concentration of 2D charge carriers, a threshold-type disappearance of excitonic states is observed in both luminescence and reflectance spectra. The higher the quality of the 2D system, the lower the corresponding threshold concentration. In the best systems, the collapse of excitonic states occurs at unexpectedly low electron densities n(e) = 5 x 10(9) cm(-2), which correspond to the mean dimensionless distance between the particles r(s) = 8. This value far exceeds the threshold values observed for 3D systems (r(s) approximate to 2), as well as the values obtained for quantum wells in previous studies. The problem of measuring the concentration of low-density 2D charge carriers in photoexcitation conditions is solved by applying the method of optical detection of the dimensional magnetoplasma resonance. This method provides reliable measurements of the density of a 2D system to the values about 10(9) cm(-2). (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka / Interperiodica".