Charge storage and screening of the internal field in GaN/AlGaN quantum wells

The optical spectra of a set of high quality quantum wells, with well characterized structural parameters, are presented here. We propose a quantitative calculation for the measured emission energies which takes into account the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization fields and the field-screening effect due to electron-hole photogenerated pairs; such an effect is especially effective in wide QW samples which in fact behave like mesoscopic capacitors. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.