Midinfrared continuous-wave photoluminescence of lead-salt structures up to temperatures of 190 °C

Continuous-wave photoluminescence in the midinfrared for PbSe/PbEuSe and PbTe/PbEuTe multiquantum well structures as well as for PbSe and PbTe bulklike structures, excited by a semiconductor laser diode, is investigated. All samples are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on BaF2(111) substrates under the same growth conditions. Both for the Te-based systems and for the Se-based systems, it turns out that bulklike structures show photoluminescence up to higher temperatures than multiquantum well structures. In particular, emission spectra from PbTe/PbEuTe multiquantum wells are obtained up to temperatures of 200 K and from PbSe/PbEuSe multiquantum well structures up to 60degreesC whereas for bulklike PbSe photoluminescence at temperatures as high as 190degreesC is demonstrated. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.