Deep ultraviolet AlGaN-multiple quantum wells with photoluminescence enhanced by topological corner state

The AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light -emitting diode (DUV LED) has advantages of environmentally friendly materials, tunable emission wavelength, and easy miniaturization. However, an increase in Al composition leads to a decline in the lattice quality, thereby reducing the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). In addition, the light extraction efficiency (LEE) is limited due to the strong transverse magnetization polarization emission from the multiple quantum wells. Here, we designed the topological corner structure in AlGaN-MQWs, and the high electric field intensity in a tiny space at the corner results in an extremely high local density of optical states (LDOS), which could shorten the luminescence decay time of the emitter and increase the radiative rate by 26 times. Meanwhile, because the excited topological corner state resonance mode is a transverse -electric mode, enhancing only the transverse -electric luminescence without any gain for transverse -magnetic luminescence, thereby significantly improving the light extraction efficiency. Finally, according to theoretical calculations, the IQE could reach 68.75% at room temperature. (c) 2024 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement