Atomistic tight-binding study of electronic structure and interband optical transitions in GaBi_xAs_1−x/GaAs quantum wells

Large-supercell tight-binding calculations are presented for GaBi_xAs_1−x/GaAs single quantum wells (QWs) with Bi fractions x of 3.125% and 12.5%. Our results highlight significant distortion of the valence band states due to the alloy disorder. A large full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) is estimated in the ground state interband transition energy (≈33 meV) at 3.125% Bi, consistent with recent photovoltage measurements for similar Bi compositions. Additionally, the alloy disorder effects are predicted to become more pronounced as the QW width is increased. However, they are less strong at the higher Bi composition (12.5%) required for the design of temperature-stable lasers, with a calculated FWHM of ≈23.5 meV at x = 12.5%.