Diffusion, localization, and dephasing of trions and excitons in CdTe quantum wells

Excitons and trions in a CdTe modulation-doped quantum well are investigated by picosecond three-pulse four-wave mixing experiments as a function of temperature in the low-density regime. We show that trions are mobile for high enough temperatures. The diffusivity of trions and excitons increases with temperature but, like their mobilities, is limited by acoustic-phonon scattering. Consistently, studying the decay of the interband coherence reveals an increase of the homogeneous broadening as the temperature is raised. At low temperatures, excitonic complexes are localized by both interface roughness scattering and by the electrostatic potential due to remote ionized donors.