Trade-off between interface morphology and compositional homogeneity in AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells revealed by multislice electron ptychography
Abstract
AlGaAs/GaAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells (ACQWs) are promising platforms for enhanced second-order optical nonlinearities, with their performance strongly influenced by the structural quality of heterostructures. Flat interfaces, together with high compositional homogeneity, are generally desirable for optimizing device functionality. Here we show that sharp and flat AlGaAs/GaAs interface morphology dominates the second harmonic generation (SHG) response in AlGaAs/GaAs ACQWs, even when significant compositional fluctuations in Al/Ga occupancy are present within the AlGaAs layers. Using multislice electron ptychography, we resolve the three-dimensional (3D) interface morphology and compositional distribution in AlGaAs/GaAs ACQWs under distinct growth interruptions. Longer growth interruptions sharpen and flatten the AlGaAs/GaAs interfaces, but at the same time cause stronger compositional fluctuations in the AlGaAs layers. These findings clarify how growth interruption tunes quantum wells structures and provide direct guidance for quantum wells design in next-generation optoelectronic devices.
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BibTeX
@misc{ju2026tradeoff,
title = {{Trade-off between interface morphology and compositional homogeneity in AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells revealed by multislice electron ptychography}},
author = {Yiwei Ju and Han-Hsuan Wu and Amberly Ricks and Levi Brown and Moaz Waqar and Rithvik Ramesh and Xingxu Yan and Toshihiro Aoki and Seth R. Bank and Xiaoqing Pan},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.23245},
eprint = {2609.23245},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23245},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Trade-off between interface morphology and compositional homogeneity in AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells revealed by multislice electron ptychography
AU - Yiwei Ju
AU - Han-Hsuan Wu
AU - Amberly Ricks
AU - Levi Brown
AU - Moaz Waqar
AU - Rithvik Ramesh
AU - Xingxu Yan
AU - Toshihiro Aoki
AU - Seth R. Bank
AU - Xiaoqing Pan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.23245
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23245
AB - AlGaAs/GaAs asymmetric coupled quantum wells (ACQWs) are promising platforms for enhanced second-order optical nonlinearities, with their performance strongly influenced by the structural quality of heterostructures. Flat interfaces, together with high compositional homogeneity, are generally desirable for optimizing device functionality. Here we show that sharp and flat AlGaAs/GaAs interface morphology dominates the second harmonic generation (SHG) response in AlGaAs/GaAs ACQWs, even when significant compositional fluctuations in Al/Ga occupancy are present within the AlGaAs layers. Using multislice electron ptychography, we resolve the three-dimensional (3D) interface morphology and compositional distribution in AlGaAs/GaAs ACQWs under distinct growth interruptions. Longer growth interruptions sharpen and flatten the AlGaAs/GaAs interfaces, but at the same time cause stronger compositional fluctuations in the AlGaAs layers. These findings clarify how growth interruption tunes quantum wells structures and provide direct guidance for quantum wells design in next-generation optoelectronic devices.
ER -