Visualizing light-to-electricity conversion process in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells with a p–n junction

Absorption and carrier transport behavior plays an important role in the light-to-electricity conversion process, which is difficult to characterize. Here we develop a method to visualize such a conversion process in the InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells embedded in a p-n junction. Under non-resonant absorption conditions, a photocurrent was generated and the photoluminescence intensity decayed by more than 70% when the p-n junction out-circuit was switched from open to short. However, when the excitation photon energy decreased to the resonant absorption edge, the photocurrent dropped drastically and the photoluminescence under open and short circuit conditions showed similar intensity. These results indicate that the escaping of the photo-generated carriers from the quantum wells is closely related to the excitation photon energy.