An investigation was made of lateral electric-field effects in a GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well and in AlGaAs and GaAs single layers. Quenching of photoluminescence spectra was observed at low temperatures, even when the electric field was much lower than that required for the dissociation of excitons. In order to explain this, a model was proposed which involved new recombination center formation via the displacement of charged atoms. By means of ab initio calculations, it was found that a metastable state existed when negatively charged Ga atoms were displaced to interstitial sites. The calculated potential-barrier height between the stable state and the metastable state could be as high as 0.5eV. However, the metastable-to-stable transition barrier-height was only 0.05eV. The results were consistent with experiment.

Electric field-induced recombination centers in GaAs A.Kawaharazuka, K.Shiraishi, Y.Horikoshi: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics - 1, 1998, 37[3B], 1622-5