Electric field effects on optical properties in zinc-blende InGaN/GaN quantum dot

The effect of electric field on exciton states and optical properties in zinc-blende (ZB) InGaN/GaN quantum dot (QD) are investigated theoretically in the framework of effective-mass envelop function theory. Numerical results show that the electric field leads to a remarkable reduction of the ground-state exciton binding energy, interband transition energy, oscillator strength and linear optical susceptibility in InGaN/GaN QD. It is also found that the electric field effects on exciton states and optical properties are much more obvious in QD with large size. Moreover, the ground-state exciton binding energy and oscillator strength are more sensitive to the variation of indium composition in InGaN/GaN QD with small indium composition. Some numerical results are in agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Dynamics of single InGaN quantum dots

Decay dynamics for single InGaN quantum dots are presented using time-resolved photoluminescence. The recombination is shown to be characterized by a single exponential decay, in contrast to the non-exponential recombination dynamics seen in the 2D wetting layer. The lifetimes of single dots in the temperature range 4–60 K decrease with increasing temperature. Different dots show similar lifetimes of 2 ns.     

Two-photon excitation of confined biexcitons in CuCl quantum dots

We have studied direct creation processes of confined biexcitons in CuCl quantum dots by polarization-dependent resonant two-photon excitation spectroscopy. The two-photon absorption band for the lowest state of the biexciton (total angular momentum J=0) which appears on the lower energy side of confined exciton band was identified from the analysis of the polarization dependence of the photoluminescence excitation spectrum of the biexciton. Furthermore, the two-photon excitation process for the excited state of the biexciton (J=2) was also found with polarization dependence different from the J=0 biexciton state.     

Local structure of uncapped and capped InGaN/GaN quantum dots

The local structure around the indium atoms in uncapped and capped In_xGa_1?xN quantum dots has been studied by In K‐edge extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. The samples were grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. The EXAFS was successfully applied to study the structural properties of buried quantum dots which are not optically active. The analysis revealed that capping the quantum dots with GaN does not affect the bond distances of the In—N and In—Ga, but makes the In—In distance shorter by 0.04 Å.     

Stable biexcitonic lasing of CuCl quantum dots under two-photon resonant excitation

We have observed ultraviolet lasing of CuCl quantum dots embedded in a NaCl single crystalline matrix. Stable ultraviolet lasing of biexciton (two e–h pairs) luminescence has been achieved below 70 K under the two-photon direct excitation of biexcitons of CuCl quantum dots. Laser action occurs with parallely cleaved surfaces of the NaCl crystalline matrix acting as an optical cavity, which shows a very high efficiency of lasing.     

Quantum confined Stark effect in single self-assembled GaN/AlN quantum dots

We have experimentally and theoretically investigated quantum confined Stark effect in hexagonal self-assembled GaN/AlN quantum dots. We have observed a blueshift of up to 100 meV for vertical electric field applied against the built-in electric field while we have observed a redshift for the electric field along the built-in field. The experimental result is compared with a charge self-consistent effective mass calculation, taking into account strain, piezoelectric charge, and pyroelectric charge. The tunability of the emission energy and the exciton binding energy is discussed.     

Interface characterization and indium content of indium-rich quantum dots in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

We report on the interface characterization of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells with indium aggregation grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The interface related microstructure was analyzed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction and high angle annular dark field. Luminescence measurements were carried out by micro-photoluminescence measurement. In addition, quantitative determination of the indium concentration inside the ultra-small dots was attempted. We demonstrate that the quantum dots are coherent and the interfaces remain sharp. The In content inside ∼2 nm InGaN dots is about 65% determined by spectrum imaging in energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy combined with multiple linear least squares fitting, which is slighter higher than the value obtained either from HRTEM or theoretical calculations. This discrepancy is briefly discussed but demands further studies for complete understanding.     

Photostability comparison of CdTe and CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots in living cells under single and two-photon excitations

The photostability is an outstanding feature of quantum dots (QDs) used as fluorescence probes in biological staining and cell imaging. To find out the related factors in the QD photostability, the photobleaching of naked CdTe QDs and BSA coated CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs in human hepatocellular carcinoma (QGY) cells and human nasopharynx carcinoma (KB) cells were studied under single photon excitation (SPE) and two-photon excitation (TPE). In these two cell lines the cellular QDs were irradiated by a 405 nm continuous wave laser for SPE or an 800 nm femto-second (fs) laser for TPE. The QD photobleaching with the irradiation time was found to fit a biexponential decay. The fast decay plays a dominant role in the bleaching course and thus can be used as the parameter to quantitatively evaluate the QD photostability. The TPE decreased the QD photobleaching as compared to SPE. The BSA coated core/shell QDs had improved the photostability up to 4-5 times than the naked QDs due to the shielding effect of the QD shell. Therefore, it is better to use core/shell structured QDs as the fluorescence probe combining with a TPE manner for those long-term monitoring studies.     

Recombination processes in structures with GaN/ALN quantum dots

Mechanisms of the generation and the radiative and nonradiative recombination of carriers in structures with GaN quantum dots in the AlN matrix are studied experimentally and theoretically. Absorption, stationary and nonstationary photoluminescence of quantum dots at different temperatures are investigated. It is found that the photoluminescence intensity considerably decreases with the temperature while the photoluminescence kinetics weakly depends on the temperature. The photoluminescence kinetics is shown to be determined by radiative recombination inside quantum dots. A mechanism of nonradiative recombination is proposed, according to which the main reason for the thermal quenching of photoluminescence is nonradiative recombination of charge carriers, generated by optical transitions between quantum dots and wetting layer states.     

Optical studies on a coherent InGaN/GaN layer

Photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and selective excitation (SE-PL) studies were performed in an attempt to identify the origin of the emission bands in a pseudomorphic In_0.05Ga_0.95N/GaN film. Besides the InGaN near-band-edge PL emission centred at 3.25 eV an additional blue band centred at 2.74 eV was observed. The lower energy PL peak is characterized by an energy separation between absorption and emission–the Stokes’ shift–(500 meV) much larger than expected. A systematic PLE and selective excitation analysis has shown that the PL peak at 2.74 eV is related to an absorption band observed below the InGaN band gap. We propose the blue emission and its related absorption band are associated to defect levels, which can be formed inside either the InGaN or GaN band gap.     

Phonon satellites and time-resolved studies of carrier recombination dynamics in InGaN quantum wells

We have studied the photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence of a set of InGaN quantum wells with well thickness from 1 to 7.5 nm. An analysis of the phonon satellites at 5 K shows Huang–Rhys factors from 0.32 to 0.44. The increase of this factor is caused by the electron–hole separation induced by the piezoelectric field. The time-resolved photoluminescence at room temperature shows that the decay time of the 1 and 2 nm wells does not depend on the wavelength. The maximum decay time is around 600 ps for the 2, 3 and 4 nm wells. However, for the 3 and 4 nm wells a decrease of the photoluminescence decay time is observed at the highest wavelengths. This suggest the onset of a non-radiative process in these samples. The optimum well width for efficient emission for these single quantum wells was found to be 2 nm.     

Temperature dependent growth of InGaN/GaN single quantum well

InGaN/GaN single quantum well (SQW) structures under various InGaN growth temperatures have been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), the surface morphologies and optical properties are investigated. The radius of the typical V-pits on the SQW surface is affected by the InGaN well-temperature, and the surface roughness decreased as the well-temperature reduced. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and cathode luminescence (CL) shows the quantum well and quantum dot (QD)-like localized state light emission of the SQWs grown at 700 and 690 °C, respectively, whereas the samples grown at 670 and 650 °C present hybrid emission peaks. Excitation power dependent PL spectra indicates the QD-like localized state emission dominates at low excitation power and the quantum well emission starts to take over at high excitation power.     

Photoluminescence of charged magneto-excitons in InAs single quantum dots

We calculated the photoluminescence spectra of charged magneto-excitons in single two-dimensional parabolic quantum dots, using an unrestricted Hartree–Fock method. The calculated luminescence spectra explain well the observed red shifts of transition energies of InAs/GaAs single quantum dot by additional electron capture in a dot. The magnetic-field-induced transition of the ground state configuration of trapped electrons causes drastic change in the photoluminescence spectra. The dependence of photoluminescence intensities of charged excitons on the excess energies of photogenerated carriers above the bulk GaAs energy gap is studied phenomenologically, by calculating the steady state electron population probability in a dot.     

Excitonic optical absorption in wurtzite InGaN/GaN quantum wells

Within the framework of the effective-mass and envelope function theory, exciton states and optical properties in wurtzite (WZ) InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) are investigated theoretically considering the built-in electric field effects. Numerical results show that the built-in electric field, well width and in composition have obvious influences on exciton states and optical properties in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs. The built-in electric field caused by polarizations leads to a remarkable reduction of the ground-state exciton binding energy, the interband transition energy and the integrated absorption probability in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any well width and In composition. In particular, the integrated absorption probability is zero in WZ InGaN/GaN QWs with any In composition and well width L > 4 nm. In addition, the competition effects between quantum confinement and the built-in electric field (between quantum size and the built-in electric field) on exciton states and optical properties have also been investigated.     

Observation of long-lived excitons in InAs quantum dots under thermal redistribution temperature

We study the temperature-dependent time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs). Under low excitation power, a surprisingly long PL decay time is observed at about 60 K, under the thermal redistribution temperature. The long decay time decreases with increasing excitation power but is nearly independent of the detection energy of TRPL measurements. A model considering the spin relaxation through the excited excitonic state is proposed to quantitatively explain the unusual phenomena. The rate equation analysis indicates that the observation of long-lived excitons is caused by the shortened spin-flip time.     

Photoactivation of silicon quantum dots

We show that free-standing silicon quantum dots (QDs) can be photoactivated by blue or UV optical irradiation. The luminescence intensity increases by an order of magnitude for irradiation times of several minutes under moderate optical power. The cut-off energy for photoactivation is between 2.1 and 2.4 eV, not very different from the activation energy for hydrogen dissociation from bulk silicon surfaces. We propose the mechanism for this effect is associated with silicon-hydride bond breaking and the subsequent oxidation of dangling bonds. This phenomenon could be used to “write” luminescent quantum dots into pre-determined arrays.     

Influence of GaAsSb structural properties on the optical properties of InAs/GaAsSb quantum dots

The optical properties of InAs quantum dots with GaAsSb buffer, capping and cladding layers of different alloy compositions are studied by photoluminescence techniques. Fully strained GaAsSb layers show that the inclusion of a buffer layer gives a blue-shift to quantum dot emission, while for quantum dots capped with GaAsSb a clear red-shift is seen. Power-dependent photoluminescence suggests a transition from type-I to type-II can be achieved by GaAsSb at Sb composition between 11–13%, while the transition for the GaAsSb cladding layer occurs at around 11%. At low Sb composition, good crystal quality and energy barrier are detected by temperature-dependent photoluminescence, while high-level dislocation and defects exist under high antimony content, as evidenced by X-Ray Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the quantum-confined Stark effect in a single InGaN/GaN quantum dot under applied vertical electric field

We present a study of the effect of externally applied vertical electric field on the optical properties of single InGaN/GaN quantum dots via microphotoluminescence spectroscopy. This is achieved by incorporating the quantum dot layer in the intrinsic region of a p–i–n diode structure. We observe a large blue energy shift of 60 meV, which is explained by the partial compensation of the internal piezoelectric field. The energy shift dependence on the applied field allows the determination of the vertical component of the permanent dipole and the polarizability. We also present theoretical modelling of our results based on atomistic semi-empirical tight-binding simulations. A good quantitative agreement between the experiment and the theory is found.     

Pressure effects on the donor binding energy in zinc-blende InGaN/GaN quantum dot

Based on the effective-mass approximation, the hydrostatic pressure effects on the donor binding energy of the hydrogenic impurity in zinc-blende (ZB) InGaN/GaN quantum dot (QD) are investigated by means of a variational procedure. Numerical results show that the donor binding energy increases when the hydrostatic pressure increases for any impurity position and QD structure parameter. Moreover, it is found that the hydrostatic pressure has a remarkable influence on the donor binding energy of the hydrogenic impurity located at the vicinity of dot center in ZB InGaN/GaN QD.