Femtosecond upconverted photocurrent spectroscopy of InAs quantum nanostructures

The carrier upconversion dynamics in InAs quantum nanostructures are studied for intermediate-band solar-cell applications via ultrafast photoluminescence and photocurrent (PC) spectroscopy based on femtosecond excitation correlation (FEC) techniques. Strong upconverted PC-FEC signals are observed under resonant excitation of quantum well islands (QWIs), which are a few monolayer-thick InAs quantum nanostructures. The PC-FEC signal typically decays within a few hundred picoseconds at room temperature, which corresponds to the carrier lifetime in QWIs. The photoexcited electron and hole lifetimes in InAs QWIs are evaluated as functions of temperature and laser fluence. Our results provide solid evidence for electron-hole-hole Auger process, dominating the carrier upconversion in InAs QWIs at room temperature. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.