G. G. Tarasov

Carrier transfer in self-assembled coupled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra and time-resolved PL data from AlGaAs/GaAs superlattice structures containing thin InAs layers of about 1–3 monolayer grown on semi-insulating (001)-oriented GaAs substrates at lowered temperatures are studied. The size distribution of InAs quantum dots (QDs) among different families (modes) is controlled by variation of growth temperature and/or growth interruption. We demonstrate the stabilization of the PL magnitude caused by strong coupling between different modes and the full width at half maximum of “large size” QD modes within a certain temperature interval (50–150 K) due to feeding of the radiative transitions from nonradiative decay and carrier transfer arising from decaying excitonic states of the small size QD modes. Strong competition between different channels of ground state relaxation leads to an oscillating dependence of the PL transient for the small size QD mode. Efficient inter- and intramode tunneling rules out “bottleneck restrictions” for the PL. The pa...

Staircase-like spectral dependence of ground-state luminescence time constants in high-density InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) from InAs/GaAs quantum dots with a bimodal size distribution is used to investigate the dynamic carrier-transfer processes which couple transfer between similarly sized quantum dots and between quantum dots in different size categories. The relationship between the decay time and the emission energy appears staircaselike and the energetic positions of the steps as well as the shape can be correlated to the shape of the steady-state PL emission through a rate-equation theory. These results show how transient PL can be used to investigate the dynamics of carrier transfer in quantum-dot systems.

Optical detection of asymmetric quantum-dot molecules in double-layer InAs/GaAs structures

Self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) in double-layer InAs/GaAs structures are studied by resonant photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. A weakly correlated (50%) double-layer system with an array of vertically coupled QDs (asymmetric quantum-dot molecules) was formed in a structure consisting of the 1.8-monolayer-thick first and the 2.4-monolayer-thick second InAs layers separated by 50 monolayers of GaAs. The nature of discrete quantum states in this system was studied and resonances corresponding to vertically coupled QDs were clearly observed for the first time.

Effects of spatial confinement and layer disorder in photoluminescence of GaAs1−xBix/GaAs heterostructures

The structural and optical properties of a set of high-quality GaAs1−xBix/GaAs quantum well (QW) heterostructures with Bi concentrations ranging from 3.5% to 6.7% are studied. The energies of the excitonic ground state transitions are determined as a function of Bi concentration and spatial confinement. The influence of material disorder on the optical properties of QWs is investigated. It is determined that trap-related luminescence responds differently to temperature changes depending on whether the Bi concentration is more or less than 5%. Below 5% it contributes significantly to the overall photoluminescence line shape whereas above 5%, it is insignificant.

Coexistence of type-I and type-II band alignments in antimony-incorporated InAsSb quantum dot nanostructures

Antimony-incorporated InAsSb quantum dots (QDs) are grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(001) substrates. The QD density increases ∼7 times while the QD height decreases ∼50% due to the increase of QD nucleation sites after Sb incorporation into the GaAs buffer layer and into the InAs QDs. These Sb-incorporated InAsSb QDs show red-shift in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum and large energy separation between confined energy levels. More interestingly, besides the typical type-I QD transition, an additional peak from the recombination at wetting layer interface develops as the excitation laser intensity increases. This peak clearly exhibits type-II characteristics from the measurement of a large blue-shift of the PL peak and a long PL decay time. Finally, the mechanism of the coexistence of type-I and type-II band alignments is discussed.

Excitonic transfer in coupled InGaAs/GaAs quantum well to InAs quantum dots

Peculiar mechanism of carrier transfer, excitonic trapping, from quantum well (QW) states to quantum dot (QD) states is clearly observed for the intentionally designed strained InAs:In0.3Ga0.7As∕GaAs QD:QW structure. This transfer occurs very efficient at low excitation densities and low temperatures and explains the excitation density and nonmonotonic temperature dependences of the QW photoluminescence.

Optical evidence of a quantum well channel in low temperature molecular beam epitaxy grown Ga(AsBi)/GaAs nanostructure

A Ga(AsBi) quantum well (QW) with Bi content reaching 6% and well width of 11 nm embedded in GaAs is grown by molecular beam epitaxy at low temperature and studied by means of high-resolution x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (PL), and time-resolved PL. It is shown that for this growth regime, the QW is coherently strained to the substrate with a low dislocation density. The low temperature PL demonstrates a comparatively narrow excitonic linewidth of ∼ 40 meV. For high excitation density distinct QW excited states evolve in the emission spectra. The origins of peculiar PL dependences on temperature and excitation density are interpreted in terms of intra-well optical transitions.

Tunneling-barrier controlled excitation transfer in hybrid quantum dot-quantum well nanostructures

A systematic spectroscopic study of the carrier transfer between quantum dot (QD) and quantum well (QW) layers is carried out in a hybrid dot-well system based on InAs QDs and InGaAs QWs. We observe a strong dependence of the QD and QW photoluminescence (PL) both on the dot-well barrier thickness and height. For thick (or high) barriers QD and QW systems accumulate independently sufficient photogenerated carrier densities to be seen in PL even at low nonresonant excitation power. For thin (or low) barriers it is impossible to detect the PL signal from QW at low excitation densities due to effective carrier transfer from QW to QDs. Strong state-filling effects of the excited QD states influence the carrier transfer efficiencies. By investigating the carrier dynamics using time-resolved spectroscopy and the state-filling effects in the continuous wave excitation regime the basic characteristics of interlevel, intersublevel, and dot-well relaxation are determined. The mechanisms of the dot-well coupling are ...

Self-induced resonant optical rotation in crystals KCl:Li

Abstract The specific rotation of the resonant radiation polarization plane predicted earlier for cubic crystals with tunneling centers is observed in KCl containing FA(Li) centers. The rotation is supposed to be connected essentially with the well-known off-center position of Li+ ion. The simple theory based on this assumption agrees with the experimental data.

Strong excitation intensity dependence of the photoluminescence line shape in GaAs1−xBix single quantum well samples

A set of high quality single quantum well samples of GaAs1−xBix with bismuth concentrations not exceeding 6% and well widths ranging from 7.5 to 13 nm grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a GaAs substrate at low temperature is studied by means of photoluminescence (PL). It is shown that the PL line shape changes when the exciton reduced mass behavior changes from an anomalous increase (x 5%). Strongly non-monotonous PL bandwidth dependence on the excitation intensity is revealed and interpreted in terms of optically unresolved contributions from the saturable emission of bound free excitons.