InGaN based light emitting devices demonstrate excellent luminescence properties and have great potential in lighting applications. Though these devices are already being produced on an industrial scale, the nature of their radiative transition is still not well understood. In particular, the role of the huge (>1MV/cm), built-in electric field in these transitions is still under debate. The luminescence characteristics of InGaN quantum well structures were investigated as a function of excitation power, temperature, and biaxial strain, with an intent of discerning the effects of the electric field and inhomogeneous indium distribution in the QW on the radiative transition. It was found that the luminescence energy did not scale only with the indium concentration but that the QW thickness must also be taken into account. The thickness affects the transition energy due to quantum confinement and carrier separation across a potential drop in the QW. The luminescence peak width was shown to increase with increased indium fraction, due to increased indium inhomogeneity. The carrier lifetime increased exponentially with QW thickness and luminescence wavelength, due to increased carrier separation. Measuring the luminescence energy and carrier lifetime as a function of excitation density showed that the electric field can be screened by strong …

Low temperature Nonphotochemical Hole Burning (NPHB) Spectroscopy of the dye rhodamine 800 (MF680) was applied for the purpose of discerning differences between cultured normal and carcinoma ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. Both the cell lines were developed and characterized at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), with the normal cell line having been transfected with a strain of temperature sensitive Simian Virus 40 Large T Antigen (SV40) for the purpose of extending the life of the cell culture without inducing permanent changes in the characteristics of the cell line. The cationic lipophilic fluorophore rhodamine 800 preferentially locates in in situ mitochondria due to the high lipid composition of mitochondria and the generation of a large negative membrane potential (relative to the cellular cytoplasm) for oxidative phosphorylation. Results presented for NPHB of MF680 located in the cells show significant differences between the two cell lines. The results are interpreted on the basis of the NPHB mechanism and characteristic interactions between the host (cellular mitochondrial) and the guest (MF680) in the burning of spectral holes, thus providing an image of the cellular ultrastructure. Hole growth kinetics (HGK) were found to differ markedly between the two cell lines, with the carcinoma cell line burning …