Determination of the pyroelectric coefficient in strained InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells grown on (111)B GaAs substrates

We report an experimental determination of the pyroelectric coefficient for strained InGaAs layers in a pseudomorphic piezoelectric In0.17Ga0.83As/GaAs multiquantum well in a p-i-n diode configuration which was grown on a (111)B GaAs substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy. By analyzing the Franz-Keldysh oscillations in the photoreflectance spectra over the temperature range 11-300 K, we obtained the temperature dependence of the piezoelectric field, from which the temperature variation of the piezoelectric constant e(14) was deduced. A linear dependence of e(14) with temperature was observed. Therefore, the strain-induced component of the pyroelectric coefficient of (9.3 +/-0.3)x10(-7) C/m(2) K was determined for this material system. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.