Short-wavelength, mid- and far-infrared intersubband absorption in nonpolar GaN/Al(Ga)N heterostructures

This paper assesses nonpolar m-oriented GaN:Si/Al(Ga)N heterostructures grown on free-standing GaN for intersubband optoelectronics in the short-wavelength, mid- and far-infrared ranges. Characterization results are compared with reference c-plane samples and interpreted by correlation with self-consistent Schrodinger–Poisson calculations. In the near- and mid-infrared regions, we demonstrate m-GaN/Al(Ga)N multiquantum-wells exhibiting room-temperature intersubband absorption tunable in the range of 1.5–5.8 µm (827–214 meV), the long wavelength limit being set by the second order of the Reststrahlen band in the GaN substrates. Extending the study to the far-infrared region, low-temperature intersubband transitions in the 1.5–9 THz range (6.3–37.4 meV) are observed in larger m-plane GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum-wells, covering most of the 7–10 THz band forbidden to GaAs-based technologies.