Correlation between the quantized energies and the photovoltaic spectra for a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure

We have measured the photovoltaic spectra at 300 K for a PIN GaAs/AlGaAs structure containing five coupled wells (50A/28A) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The spectra were obtained in the energy range from 1.40 eV to 1.60 eV. This is the region in which optical transitions between the sub-band valence and conduction states are possible. Five direct optical transitions are allowed for this structure. These transitions are normally difficult to measure at room temperature because of broadening, nevertheless, some of the allowed transitions were observed from the photovoltaic spectra and agreed with calculations. We have previously shown that measurements made using electroreflectance (ER) agree with these results. However, with ER, three possible transitions were observed but only one with certainty, possibly because of interference caused by adjacent line spectra interaction. This interference appears to be less pronounced in the photovoltaic spectra, which aids in the identification of transitions.