Electric‐field dependence of interband transitions in In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As/In_(0.52)Al_(0.48)As single quantum wells by room‐temperature electrotransmittance

Room‐temperature electrotransmittance has been used in order to investigate the interband excitonic transitions in a 250‐Å‐thick In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As/In_(0.52)Al_(0.48)As single‐quantum‐well system as a function of an externally applied electric field. Parity forbidden transitions, involving conduction‐band states with quantum numbers up to n=5, which become more pronounced at high electric fields were observed. The ground‐state and the forbidden transitions showed a significant red shift due to the quantum confined Stark effect. A comparison with previously reported results on thinner InGaAs/InAlAs quantum wells indicated that the wide‐well sample exhibits the largest shift, as expected from theory. Despite the appreciable Stark shift, the rather large, field‐induced linewidth broadening and the relatively low electric field at which the ground‐state exciton is ionized poses limitations on using this wide‐quantum‐well system for electro‐optic applications.