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The recombination dynamics of neutral donor bound excitons (DoX: I4, I6/6a) and near band edge defect-related emission in solution grown ZnO nanorods are investigated using steady state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The effects of annealing are also studied. Low temperature steady state PL shows a systematic removal of the I4 line after annealing at 450 °C and the subsequent domination of I6a in these PL spectra. Additionally, the time decay of the I4, I6/6a, free exciton (FX), and basal plane stacking fault-related (BSF) PL transitions are studied as a function of annealing temperature. For the various annealing temperatures studied, the PL decay is described by a bi-exponential profile with a fast component (contribution from the surface) and slow component (related to bulk recombination). The fast component dominates in the case of as-grown and low temperature annealed samples (anneal temperatures up to 300 °C), suggesting the presence of surface adsorbed impurities. For samples annealed above 400 °C, the effects of the surface are reduced. The sample annealed at 850 °C produced an overall enhancement of the crystal quality. The underlying mechanisms for the observed PL characteristics are discussed based on near surface band bending caused by surface impurities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GaN-based pyramidal quantum structures, InGaN nanostructures located on top of micro-sized GaN pyramids, were fabricated by selective-area growth on SiC substrates by means of hot-wall metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Arrays of GaN-based pyramidal structures exhibit micro-size pyramids possessing high uniformity, precise hexagonal bases, and InGaN/GaN quantum-well layers with well-defined interfaces. Each pyramid comprises a p-i-n InGaN/GaN structure, which is separated from that of other pyramids by a dielectric layer, serving as a building block for micro-emitters. Moreover, interconnected micro-size light-emitting diodes (microLEDs) built on the GaN-based pyramidal quantum structures were demonstrated, resulting in well-determined electroluminescence in the near-ultraviolet regime with negligible spectral shifts at high current levels. The results elucidated the rewards for development of these light-emitting designs and their potential for microLED applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuning the emission energy of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and understanding the reason of tunability is essential for the GOD function in optoelectronic devices. Besides material-based challenges, the way to realize chemical doping and band gap tuning also pose a serious challenge. In this study, we tuned the emission energy of GQDs by substitutional doping using chlorine, nitrogen, boron, sodium, and potassium dopants in solution form. Photoluminescence data obtained from (Cl- and N-doped) GQDs and (B-, Na-, and K-doped) GQDs, respectively exhibited red- and blue-shift with respect to the photoluminescence of the undoped GQDs. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that oxygen functional groups were attached to GQDs. We qualitatively correlate red-shift of the photoluminescence with the oxygen functional groups using literature references which demonstrates that more oxygen containing groups leads to the formation of more defect states and is the reason of observed red-shift of luminescence in GQDs. Further on, time resolved photoluminescence measurements of Cl- and N-GQDs demonstrated that Cl substitution in GQDs has effective role in radiative transition whereas in N-GQDs leads to photoluminescence (PL) quenching with non-radiative transition to ground state. Presumably oxidation or reduction processes cause a change of effective size and the bandgap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the observation of linearly polarized single photon antibunching in the excitonic emission from a site-controlled InGaN quantum dot. The measured second order coherence function exhibits a significant dip at zero time difference, corresponding to gm²(0) = 0.90 under continuous laser excitation. This relatively high value of gm²(0) is well understood by a model as the combination of short exciton life time (320 ps), limited experimental timing resolution and the presence of an uncorrelated broadband background emission from the sample. Our result provides the first rigorous evidence of InGaN quantum dot formation on hexagonal GaN pyramids, and it highlights a great potential in these dots as fast polarized single photon emitters if the background emission can be eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selected InGaAsN/GaAs T-shaped quantum wire (T-QWR) fabricated by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy has been investigated by microphotoluminescence (µ-PL) and excitation-power-dependent µ-PL. The optical characteristics of one-dimensional structure were taken at low-temperature (4 K) and room temperature (RT) to clarify the intersection of two familiar quantum wells (QWs) in the [001] and [110] directions, named QW1 and QW2, respectively. For the excitation-power-dependent measurement, the intensity of the excitation source was used in the range of 0.001 I0 to I0. The result shows that all of emissions related to QW1 and QWR peaks have a nonsymmetric line shape as evidenced by the tailing on the lower-energy side. All peaks shift to higher-energy side (blueshift) with the increase of the excitation power intensity. The blueshift and the low-energy tailing of PL peaks are attributed to the alloying effect. However, the emission peak related to QWR region shows a larger blueshift rate than that of QW1 on increasing of the excitation power intensity. This is an anomalous characteristic for the low-dimensional structure, affected by the large fluctuation state in the QWR region. This fluctuation state is combined of both edges of QWs (QW1 and QW2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the source gas supply sequence prior to growth and the NH3 input partial pressure (PoNH3) on the nucleation of InN islands during the initial stages of hydride vapor phase epitaxy on a nitrided (0001) sapphire substrate was investigated. The crystalline quality of the InN layer after subsequent lateral growth was also examined. When NH3 was flowed prior to growth, single-crystal hexagonal InN islands formed. When InN was grown with a higher PoNH3, the number of InN islands decreased remarkably while their diameter increased. The crystalline quality of InN grown on the hexagonal islands with a high PoNH3 significantly improved with increasing growth time. A strong PL spectrum was observed only from InN layers grown with a high PoNH3. It was thus revealed that an NH3 preflow and a high PoNH3 are effective for producing InN with high crystalline quality and good optical and electrical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO nanoparticles with controlled sizes produced by a sol-gel method are studied by means of time-integrated as well as time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra show a blueshift of the excitonic emission with the decreasing particle size, which is attributed to the quantum confinement effect. The temperature dependence of the exciton lifetimes deduced from the TRPL results contains two components: the fast decay is attributed to surface trapping of exciton and the slow decay is mainly representative of the radiative processes involving the bound or free excitons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical properties of (0001) ZnO layers grown at 1000 °C on (0001) sapphire substrates by halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) were investigated by various photoluminescence (PL) measurements. A layer grown with a H2O/ZnCl2 (VI/II) ratio of 20 on a 0.4-µm-thick buffer layer exhibited a significant near-band-edge (NBE) peak blueshift and degraded internal quantum efficiency (ηint) due to residual compressive stress. Growth with a VI/II ratio of 600 diminished the NBE peak blueshift; however, deep level emission and a reduction of PL decay time (τPL) were caused by point defects generated by excess O source supply. A layer without the NBE peak blueshift and deep level emission was realized by growth with a VI/II ratio of 20 and a buffer layer of 0.8 µm. The ηint and τPL for HVPE-grown layers could be improved to 4.1% and 122.8 ps by using the thick buffer layer and appropriate VI/II ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spontaneous formation of AlInN core–shell nanorod arrays with variable In concentration has been realized by ultrahigh-vacuum magnetron sputter epitaxy with Ti0.21Zr0.79N or VN seed layer assistance. The nanorods exhibit hexagonal cross sections with preferential growth along the c-axis. A core–shell rod structure with a higher In concentration in the core was observed by (scanning) transmission electron microscopy in combination with low-loss electron energy loss spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. 5 K cathodoluminescence spectroscopy of Al0.86In0.14N nanorods revealed band edge emission at ∼5.46 eV, which was accompanied by a strong defect-related emission at ∼3.38 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on excitonic single photon emission and biexcitonic photon bunching from an InGaN quantum dot formed on the apex of a hexagonal GaN micropyramid. An approach to suppress uncorrelated emission from the pyramid base is proposed, a metal film is demonstrated to effectively screen background emission and thereby significantly enhance the signal-to-background ratio of the quantum dot emission. As a result, the second order coherence function at zero time delay g(2)(0) is significantly reduced (to g(2)(0) = 0.24, raw value) for the excitonic autocorrelation at a temperature of 12 K under continuous wave excitation, and a dominating single photon emission is demonstrated to survive up to 50 K. The deterioration of the g(2)(0)-value at elevated temperatures is well understood as the combined effect of reduced signal-to-background ratio and limited time resolution of the setup. This result underlines the great potential of site-controlled pyramidal dots as sources of fast polarized single photons.

Fabrication of single InGaN quantum dots (QDs) on top of GaN micropyramids is reported. The formation of single QDs is evidenced by showing single sub-millielectronvolt emission lines in microphotoluminescence (μPL) spectra. Tunable QD emission energy by varying the growth temperature of the InGaN layers is also demonstrated. From μPL, it is evident that the QDs are located in the apexes of the pyramids. The fact that the emission lines of the QDs are linear polarized in a preferred direction implies that the apexes induce unidirected anisotropic fields to the QDs. The single emission lines remain unchanged with increasing the excitation power and/or crystal temperature. An in-plane elongated QD forming a shallow potential with an equal number of trapped electrons and holes is proposed to explain the absence of other exciton complexes.

A high degree (approximately 55%) of circular polarization has been observed for the neutral exciton in InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The possibility to record non-zero polarization of the neutral exciton is explained in terms of different capture times of the light electron compared with the heavier holes into the QDs from the wetting layer. This interpretation is supported by the progressive reduction of the polarization degree with increasing QD density, and also with increasing temperature.

We report on magneto-photoluminescence studies of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) of considerably different densities, from dense ensembles down to individual dots. It is found that a magnetic field applied in Faraday geometry decreases the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of QD ensembles, which is not accompanied by the corresponding increase of PL signal of the wetting layer on which QDs are grown. The model suggested to explain these data assumes considerably different strengths of suppression of electron and hole fluxes by a magnetic field. This idea has been successfully checked in experiments on individual QDs, where the PL spectra allow to directly monitor the charge state of a QD and, hence, to conclude about relative magnitudes of electron and hole fluxes toward the QD. Comparative studies of different individual QDs have revealed that the internal electric field in the sample (which was altered in the experiments in a controllable way) together with an external magnetic field will determine the charge state and emission intensity of the QDs.

InAs/GaAs quantum dots have been subjected to a lateral external electric field in low-temperature microphotoluminescence measurements. It is demonstrated that the dot PL signal could be increased several times depending on the magnitude of the external field and the strength of the internal (built-in) electric field, which could be altered by an additional infrared illumination of the sample. The observed effects are explained by a model that accounts for the essentially faster lateral transport of the photoexcited carriers achieved in an electric field.

Individual quantum dots have been studied by means of microphotoluminescence with dual-laser excitation. The additional infrared laser influences the dot charge configuration and increases the dot luminescence intensity. This is explained in terms of separate generation of excess electrons and holes into the dot from the two lasers. With increasing dot density and/or sample temperature, the increase of the luminescence intensity vanishes progressively, while the possibility to control the dot charge remains.