Dynamics of radiative and nonradiative recombination of non-equilibrium carriers is investigated in thick AlGaN epitaxial layers with Al content ranging from 0.11 to 0.71. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in the epilayers was obtained using two approaches: either estimated from PL measurements or calculated using the recombination coefficients of a simple ABC model, retrieved by fitting the kinetics of light induced transient gratings (LITG). At photoexcited carrier densities below similar to 10(19) cm(-3), both approaches provided similar IQE values indicating that the simple ABC model is applicable to analyze carrier recombination at such carrier densities. The increase in IQE at higher carrier densities slowed down for the values extracted from PL considerably faster than for those obtained from LITG transients. This discrepancy is explained in terms of the mixed nature of the rate coefficient B caused by the onset of the density-activated nonradiative recombination at high carrier densities.

Luminescence efficiency droop has been studied in AlGaN epitaxial layers and multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with different strength of carrier localization in a wide range of temperatures. It is shown that the dominant mechanism leading to droop, i.e., the efficiency reduction at high carrier densities, is determined by the carrier thermalization conditions and the ratio between carrier thermal energy and localization depth. The droop mechanisms, such as the occupation-enhanced redistribution of nonthermalized carriers, the enhancement of nonradiative recombination due to carrier delocalization, and excitation-enhanced carrier transport to extended defects or stimulated emission, are discussed.

Nonradiative recombination rate and diffusivity of nonequilibrium carriers were modified by intense laser pulses in AlGaN epilayers with Al content ranging from 16 to 71%. The epilayers were examined before and after the photomodification using light-induced transient grating and photoluminescence spectroscopy techniques. The photomodification resulted in (i) enhancement of the nonradiative recombination rate and (ii) large changes of the diffusion coefficient of the nonequilibrium carriers, without imposing any macroscopic structural damage to the epilayers. The photomodification effect on the recombination rate was stronger in the layers with higher Al content indicating the involvement of the Al atoms in this process. The carrier diffusivity exhibited a rapid initial increase as a consequence of the photomodification followed by a slow decline, as the photomodification duration was increased. The enhancement of the diffusion coefficient of up to 2.4 times was accompanied by 13% decrease in the carrier lifetime.

We discuss factors affecting the external quantum efficiency, droop and reliability of AlGaN deep ultraviolet (DUV) light emitting diodes (LED) grown on sapphire substrates. Improvement of LED performance is achieved by suppression of the nonradiative recombination in epitaxial structures with dislocation density reduced to below 5x10(8) cm(-2), transparent LED structure design and optimized UV encapsulation for enhanced light extraction. Relatively low light extraction efficiency remains to be a key factor limiting LED output power and quantum efficiency.

The carrier dynamics in AlGaN epilayers with different degrees of carrier localization were studied using low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy at different excitations. We observed a nonmonotonous band peak energy shift with increasing excitation, which is attributed to carrier-density-dependent carrier redistribution within localized states. The carrier redistribution enhances the carrier mobility and increases the nonradiative recombination rate resulting in efficiency droop. These results indicate the significant role of nonradiative recombination even at low temperatures and low carrier densities, despite strong carrier localization. The obtained results are consistent with the excitonic-type nonradiative recombination.

Carrier dynamics in high-Al-content AlGaN epilayers with different dislocation densities from 5 × 10(8) cm(-2) to 5 × 10(9) cm(-2) is studied by comparing the photoluminescence decay with the decay of carrier density. The carrier density decay was investigated using the light-induced transient grating technique. This comparison shows that the luminescence at the nonequilibrium carrier densities expected in operating light-emitting diodes depends on the recombination of free carriers and the localized exciton-like electron-hole pairs and localization-delocalization processes. In addition, a fraction of the nonequilibrium carriers is captured by the deep capture centers with extremely long lifetimes. These carriers have an insignificant contribution to the band-to-band radiative recombination. This capture is an important factor in decreasing the emission efficiency.

The influence of carrier localization on photoluminescence efficiency droop and stimulated emission is studied in AlGaN multiple quantum wells with different strength of carrier localization. We observe that carrier delocalization at low temperatures predominantly enhances the nonradiative recombination and causes the droop, while the main effect of the delocalization at elevated temperatures is enhancement of PL efficiency due to increasing contribution of bimolecular recombination of free carriers. When the carrier thermal energy exceeds the dispersion of the potential fluctuations causing the carrier localization, the droop is caused by stimulated carrier recombination.

A single crystal chemical vapor deposition (scCVD) diamond detector has been characterized and employed for the neutron measurement at the HL-2A tokamak device. The scCVD diamond detector has been deposited with 5μm of lithium fluoride (LiF) layer to enhance the sensitivity to thermal neutrons. Time stability of the detector has been studied with α-source and good performance has been found for more than 12h. Neutron irradiations have been performed in four quasi-monoenergetic neutron fields in the energy range from 2.50MeV to 16.03MeV. The measured response function of the scCVD diamond detector to 14.13MeV neutrons shows a narrow 12C (n, α)9Be reaction peak which is well isolated from other structures by about 1MeV in energy, indicating the great potential as a fast neutron spectrometer. Neutron measurement of deuterium plasma discharge was established at the HL-2A tokamak device, and good consistence has been revealed among this detector signal and other related signals.

We present the analysis of the external quantum efficiency in AlGaN deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on sapphire substrates and discuss factors affecting the output power of DUV LEDs. Performance of the LED is related to optimization of the device structure design and improvements of the epitaxial material quality.