Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
We present results of photoluminescence (PL) studies of GaN, InxGa1-xN and AlxGa1-xN alloys, as well as related thin film heterostructures under hydrostatic pressure using the diamond-anvil-cell technique. The GaN PL spectra are dominated by strong and sharp near-band-edge luminescence associated with annihilations of bound excitons and intrinsic free excitons in the crystals. The spectrally well-resolved emission lines allow us to accurately determine their pressure. The PL spectra of InxGa1-xN and AlxGa1-xN epitaxial films were found to exhibit strong near-band-edge luminescence emissions. By examining the pressure dependence of these spectral features, the pressure coefficients for the PL emissions associated with the direct Γ band gap of InxGa1-xN and AlxGa1-xN were determined for the first time.