Modeling of normal incidence absorption in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well infrared detectors

The absorption of infrared radiation at normal incidence in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells, unlike in n-type, is fundamentally allowed. We have measured and theoretically modeled the bound-to-continuum absorption in these p-type materials. The infrared absorption coefficient was calculated are based on the electronic structure, wave functions and optical matrix elements obtained from an 8 X 8 envelope-function approximation (EFA) calculation. The 8 X 8 EFA Hamiltonian incorporates the coupling between the heavy, light, spin-orbit, and conduction bands. In calculating the continuum states for bound-to- continuum intersubband absorption, we do not enclose the well in an artificial box with infinite walls. A comparison of the theoretical absorption and measured photoresponse results verified the accuracy of our model and provided a basis for optimizing the design of p-type quantum wells for infrared detection.