Optical mapping of non-equilibrium charge carriers

Abstract

We investigate the energy relaxation segmentation in a resonant tunneling heterostructures by assessing the optical and transport dynamics of non-equilibrium charge carriers. The electrical and optical properties are analyzed using electronic transport measurements combined with electro- and photoluminescence spectroscopies in continuous-wave mode. The radiative recombination is mainly governed by the creation of heavy holes \textit{via} impact ionization processes. Our results suggest hot electrons and holes populations form independent non-equilibrium systems that do not thermalize among them and with the lattice. Consequently, the carriers effective temperature changes independently at different regions of the heterostructure, with a population distribution for holes colder than for electrons.