All‐solid‐state microscope‐based system for picosecond time‐resolved photoluminescence measurements on II‐VI semiconductors

A novel, entirely solid‐state, instrument has been developed for the study of time‐resolved photoluminescence in a wide variety of bulk semiconductors, low‐dimensional structures, and other materials. This system uses a frequency‐doubled GaAlAs diode laser (pulse width 30 ps) as the 415‐nm pump source and a silicon single‐photon avalanche diode for detection of photoluminescence. The time‐correlated single photon counting technique allows measurement of photoluminescence decays in the temporal region of 10 ps to ≳500 ns with high statistical accuracy. In addition, the combination of a microscope with a small‐area detector provides a spatial resolution of <5 μm. This system is currently being used for the measurement of picosecond time‐resolved photoluminescence from II‐VI semiconductors.