Michael Moewe

Critical diameter for III-V nanowires grown on lattice-mismatched substrates

The authors report the experimental observation of a critical diameter (CD) of III-V compound semiconductor epitaxial nanowires (NWs) grown on lattice-mismatched substrates using Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid growth. The CD is found to be inversely proportional to the lattice mismatch. NWs with well-aligned orientation are synthesized with catalysts smaller than the CD. Well-aligned InP NWs grown on a Si substrate exhibit a record low photoluminescence linewidth (5.1meV) and a large blueshift (173meV) from the InP band gap energy due to quantization. Well-aligned InAs NWs grown on a Si substrate are also demonstrated.

Atomically sharp catalyst-free wurtzite GaAs∕AlGaAs nanoneedles grown on silicon

We report a catalyst-free, self-assembled growth mode generating single-crystal wurtzite phase ultrasharp GaAs∕AlGaAs nanoneedles on both GaAs and Si substrates via low-temperature metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The needles exhibit record-narrow tip diameters of 2–4nm wide and sharp 6°–9° taper angles. The length is dependent on growth time and up to 3–4μm nanoneedles are attained. The structures do not exhibit twinning defects, contrary to typical GaAs nanowires grown by vapor-liquid-solid catalyzed growth. AlGaAs layered nanoneedle structures are also demonstrated.

High-Index-Contrast Grating (HCG) and Its Applications in Optoelectronic Devices

We review recent advances in subwavelength high-index-contrast gratings (HCGs) and a variety of applications in optoelectronic devices, including vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), tunable VCSELs, high-Q optical resonators, and low-loss hollow-core waveguides (HWs). HCGs can serve as broadband (Delta lambda/lambda ~ 35%), high-reflectivity (>99%) mirrors for surface-normal incident light, which is useful to replace conventional distributed Bragg reflectors in optical devices. HCGs can also be designed as high-Q resonators with output coupling in the surface-normal direction. Finally, we discuss a novel design of HCG as shallow angle reflectors and HWs.

Surface-normal emission of a high-Q resonator using a subwavelength high-contrast grating

We report a novel high-quality (Q) factor optical resonator using a subwavelength high-contrast grating (HCG) with in-plane resonance and surface-normal emission. We show that the in-plane resonance is manifested is by a sharp, asymmetric lineshape in the surface-normal reflectivity spectrum. The simulated Q factor of the resonator is shown to be as high as 500,000. A HCG-resonator was fabricated with an InGaAs quantum well active region sandwiched in-between AlGaAs layers and a Q factor of >14,000 was inferred from the photoluminescence linewidth of 0.07 nm, which is currently limited by instrumentation. The novel HCG resonator design will serve as a potential platform for many devices including surface emitting lasers, optical filters, and biological or chemical sensors.

Room temperature slow light in a quantum-well waveguide via coherent population oscillation

We report room temperature demonstration of slow light propagation via coherent population oscillation (CPO) in a GaAs quantum well waveguide. Measurements of the group delay of an amplitude modulated signal resonant with the heavy-hole exciton transition reveal delays as long as 830 ps. The measured bandwidth, which approaches 100 MHz, is related to the lifetime of the photoexcited electron-hole (e-h) plasma as expected for CPO process.

GaAs-Based Nanoneedle Light Emitting Diode and Avalanche Photodiode Monolithically Integrated on a Silicon Substrate

Monolithic integration of III-V compound semiconductor devices with silicon CMOS integrated circuits has been hindered by large lattice mismatches and incompatible processing due to high III-V epitaxy temperatures. We report the first GaAs-based avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and light emitting diodes, directly grown on silicon at a very low, CMOS-compatible temperature and fabricated using conventional microfabrication techniques. The APDs exhibit an extraordinarily large multiplication factor at low voltage resulting from the unique needle shape and growth mode.

Growth mechanisms and crystallographic structure of InP nanowires on lattice-mismatched substrates

We present a growth model that predicts the growth phase and mechanism of InP nanowires (NWs) and the experimental verifications of the model. The NWs were grown on lattice-mismatched GaAs substrates using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition via Au nanodrop-assisted vapor-liquid-solid growth. Nanodrops with larger diameters are shown to grow longer NWs because growth is governed mainly by direct precursor impingement on the nanodrop surface. The theoretical and experimental results also show that growth phase is dependent on NW diameter. We show that InP NWs with a diameter less than a certain value exhibit coherent growth of a single crystalline wurtzite (WZ) phase, whereas larger diameter InP NWs often contain sequences of WZ and zincblende phases and stacking faults. These findings allow one to achieve coherent NW growth and WZ phases free from twinning if the NW diameter is below certain material-dependent critical diameters.

Second-harmonic generation from a single wurtzite GaAs nanoneedle

We demonstrate second harmonic generation from a single GaAs nanoneedle with a wurtzite crystal structure. The optical anisotropy of the polar crystal results in strong nonlinear optical conversion compared to normal zincblende GaAs.

Ultraslow light (<200m∕s) propagation in a semiconductor nanostructure

We report time-domain measurements of ultraslow light propagation in a semiconductor quantum-well structure using coherent population oscillation. Delays greater than 1 ns are achieved for an amplitude-modulated optical beam propagating through a 195-nm-long active region, corresponding to group velocities less than 200m∕s. Delays can be easily varied by adjusting the intensity of the control laser. The bandwidth is suitable to delay sub-GHz modulated optical signals.We report time-domain measurements of ultraslow light propagation in a semiconductor quantum-well structure using coherent population oscillation. Delays greater than 1 ns are achieved for an amplitude-modulated optical beam propagating through a 195-nm-long active region, corresponding to group velocities less than 200m∕s. Delays can be easily varied by adjusting the intensity of the control laser. The bandwidth is suitable to delay sub-GHz modulated optical signals.

Core-shell InGaAs/GaAs quantum well nanoneedles grown on silicon with silicon-transparent emission

In(x)Ga(1-x)As wurtzite nanoneedles are grown without catalysts on silicon substrates with x ranging from zero to 0.15 using low-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The nanoneedles assume a 6 degrees - 9 degrees tapered shape, have sharp 2-5 nm tips, are 4 microm in length and 600 nm wide at the base. The micro-photoluminescence peaks exhibit redshifts corresponding to their increased indium incorporation. Core-shell InGaAs/GaAs layered quantum well structures are grown which exhibit quantum confinement of carriers, and emission below the silicon bandgap.