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We use polarized photocurrent spectroscopy in a nanowire device to investigate the band structure of hexagonal Wurtzite InAs. Signatures of optical transitions between four valence bands and two conduction bands are observed which are consistent with the symmetries expected from group theory. The ground state transition energy identified from photocurrent spectra is seen to be consistent with photoluminescence emitted from a cluster of nanowires from the same growth substrate. From the energies of the observed bands we determine the spin orbit and crystal field energies in Wurtzite InAs. This information is essential to the development of crystal phase engineering of this important III-V semiconductor., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures

There is tremendous interest in measuring the strong electron–phonon interactions seen in topological Weyl semimetals. The semimetal NbIrTe4 has been proposed to be a Type-II Weyl semimetal with 8 pairs of opposite Chirality Weyl nodes which are very close to the Fermi energy. We show using polarized angular-resolved micro-Raman scattering at two excitation energies that we can extract the phonon mode dependence of the Raman tensor elements from the shape of the scattering efficiency versus angle. This van der Waals semimetal with broken inversion symmetry and 24 atoms per unit cell has 69 possible phonon modes of which we measure 19 modes with frequencies and symmetries consistent with Density Functional Theory calculations. We show that these tensor elements vary substantially in a small energy range which reflects a strong variation of the electron–phonon coupling for these modes.

Bi2Se3 is a prototypical topological insulator which has a small band gap (~0.3 eV) and topologically protected conducting surface states. This material exhibits quite strong thermoelectric effects. Here we show in a mechanically exfoliated thick (~100 nm) nanoflake device that we can measure the energy dependent optical absorption through the photothermoelectric effect. Spectral signatures are seen for a number of optical transitions between the valence and conduction bands, including a broad peak at 1.5 eV which is likely dominated by bulk band-to-band optical transitions but is at the same energy as the well known optical transition between the two topologically protected conducting surface states. We also observe a surprising linear polarization dependence in the response of the device that reflects the influence of the metal contacts., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures

We use transient Rayleigh scattering to study the thermalization of hot photoexcited carriers in single GaAs0.7Sb0.3/InP nanowire heterostructures. By comparing the energy loss rate in single core-only GaAs0.7Sb0.3 nanowires which do not show substantial hot carrier effects with the core-shell nanowires, we show that the presence of an InP shell substantially suppresses the longitudinal optical phonon emission rate at low temperatures which then leads to strong hot carrier effects.

Trigonal tellurium (Te) is a chiral semiconductor that lacks both mirror and inversion symmetries, resulting in complex band structures with Weyl crossings and unique spin textures. Detailed time-resolved polarized reflectance spectroscopy is used to investigate its band structure and carrier dynamics. The polarized transient spectra reveal optical transitions between the uppermost spin-split H4 and H5 and the degenerate H6 valence bands (VB) and the lowest degenerate H6 conduction band (CB) as well as a higher energy transition at the L-point. Surprisingly, the degeneracy of the H6 CB (a proposed Weyl node) is lifted and the spin-split VB gap is reduced upon photoexcitation before relaxing to equilibrium as the carriers decay. Using ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we conclude that the dynamic band structure is caused by a photoinduced shear strain in the Te film that breaks the screw symmetry of the crystal. The band-edge anisotropy is also reflected in the hot carrier decay rate, which is a factor of two slower along the c-axis than perpendicular to it. The majority of photoexcited carriers near the band-edge are seen to recombine within 30 ps while higher lying transitions observed near 1.2 eV appear to have substantially longer lifetimes, potentially due to contributions of intervalley processes in the recombination rate. These new findings shed light on the strong correlation between photoinduced carriers and electronic structure in anisotropic crystals, which opens a potential pathway for designing novel Te-based devices that take advantage of the topological structures as well as strong spin-related properties., The complex band structure and carrier decay response upon photoexcitation of the chiral semiconductor tellurium remain to be unveiled. Here, the authors report unusual dynamic band modifications in Te near band-edge structure due to photoinduced symmetry breaking and strong anisotropy in carrier decay dynamics.

Bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) is a prototypical three-dimensional topological insulator whose Dirac surface states have been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally. Surprisingly little, however, is known about the energetics and dynamics of electrons and holes within the bulk band structure of the semiconductor. We use mid-infrared femtosecond transient reflectance measurements in a thick exfoliated nanoflake to study the ultrafast thermalization and recombination dynamics of photoexcited electrons and holes within the extended bulk band structure over a wide energy range (0.3-1.2 eV). Theoretical modeling of the reflectivity spectral lineshapes at 10 K demonstrates that the electrons and holes are photoexcited within a dense and cold electron gas with a Fermi level positioned well above the bottom of the lowest conduction band. Direct optical transitions from the first and the second spin-orbit split valence bands to the Fermi level above the lowest conduction band minimum are identified. The photoexcited carriers thermalize rapidly to the lattice temperature within a couple of picoseconds due to optical phonon emission and scattering with the cold electron gas. The minority carrier holes recombine with the dense electron gas within 150 ps at 10 K and 50 ps at 300 K. Such knowledge of interaction of electrons and holes within the bulk band structure provides a foundation for understanding of how such states interact dynamically with the topologically protected Dirac surface states., Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures (Suppl. Info. 8 pages, 3 Tables, 3 Figures)

The development of earth abundant materials for optoelectronics and photovoltaics promises improvements in sustainability and scalability. Recent studies have further demonstrated enhanced material efficiency through the superior light management of novel nanoscale geometries such as the nanowire. Here we show that an industry standard epitaxy technique can be used to fabricate high quality II-V nanowires (1D) and nanoplatelets (2D) of the earth abundant semiconductor Zn3As2. We go on to establish the optoelectronic potential of this material by demonstrating efficient photoemission and detection at 1.0 eV, an energy which is significant to the fields of both photovoltaics and optical telecommunications. Through dynamical spectroscopy this superior performance is found to arise from a low rate of surface recombination combined with a high rate of radiative recombination. These results introduce nanostructured Zn3As2 as a high quality optoelectronic material ready for device exploration.

We demonstrate how growth parameters may be adopted to produce morphologically controlled high-quality indium phosphide (InP) nanowires suitable for optoelectronic device applications. Growth temperature, V/III ratio, and catalyst particle size have a significant effect on the morphology, crystallographic quality, and optical properties of the resulting nanowires. Significantly, we find that higher growth temperatures or higher V/III ratios promote the formation of wurtzite (WZ) nanowires while zinc-blende (ZB) nanowires are favourable at lower growth temperatures and lower V/III ratios. Results also show that InP nanowires grow preferably in the WZ crystal structure than the ZB crystal structure with increasing V/III ratio or decreasing diameter. This causes a blue-shift in the bandgap as growth temperature increases. These results show that careful control of growth temperature, V/III ratio and catalyst size are crucial for obtaining InP nanowires of a specific crystal structure needed for device applications.

We investigate how growth parameters may be chosen to obtain high quality GaAs nanowires suitable for optoelectronic device applications. Growth temperature and precursor flows have a significant effect on the morphology, crystallographic quality, intrinsic doping and optical properties of the resulting nanowires. Significantly, we find that low growth temperature and high arsine flow rate improve nanowire optical properties, reduce carbon impurity incorporation and drastically reduce planar crystallographic defects. Additionally, cladding the GaAs nanowire cores in an AlGaAs shell enhances emission efficiency. These high quality nanowires should create new opportunities for optoelectronic devices. © 2008 IEEE.

We report straight and vertically aligned defect-free GaAs nanowires grown on Si(111) substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. By deposition of thin GaAs buffer layers on Si substrates, these nanowires could be grown on the buffer layers with much less stringent conditions as otherwise imposed by epitaxy of III-V compounds on Si. Also, crystal-defect-free GaAs nanowires were grown by using either a two-temperature growth mode consisting of a short initial nucleation step under higher temperature followed by subsequent growth under lower temperature or a rapid growth rate mode with high source flow rate. These two growth modes not only eliminated planar crystallographic defects but also significantly reduced tapering. Core-shell GaAs-AlGaAs nanowires grown by the two-temperature growth mode showed improved optical properties with strong photoluminescence and long carrier life times. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

GaAs nanowires were grown on Si (111) substrates. By coating a thin GaAs buffer layer on Si surface and using a two-temperature growth, the morphology and crystal structure of GaAs nanowires were dramatically improved. The strained GaAs/GaP core-shell nanowires, based on the improved GaAs nanowires with a shell thickness of 25 nm, showed a significant shift in emission energy of 260 meV from the unstrained GaAs nanowires. © 2010 IEEE.

GaAs and InP based nanowires were grown epitaxially on GaAs or InP (111)B substrates by MOCVD via VLS mechanism. In this paper, I will give an overview of nanowire research activities in our group. © 2009 IEEE.

CW and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements are used to investigate exciton recombination dynamics in GaAsAlGaAs heterostructure nanowires grown with a recently developed technique which minimizes twinning. A thin capping layer is deposited to eliminate the possibility of oxidation of the AlGaAs shell as a source of oxygen defects in the GaAs core. We observe exciton lifetimes of ∼1 ns, comparable to high quality two-dimensional double heterostructures. These GaAs nanowires allow one to observe state filling and many-body effects resulting from the increased carrier densities accessible with pulsed laser excitation. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Temperature-dependent polarized microphotoluminescence measurements of single GaAsAlGaAs core-shell nanowires are used to probe their electronic states. The low-temperature emission from these wires is strongly enhanced compared with that observed in bare GaAs nanowires and is strongly polarized, reflecting the dielectric mismatch between the nanowire and the surrounding air. The temperature-dependent band gap of the nanowires is seen to be somewhat different from that observed in bulk GaAs, and the PL rapidly quenches above 120 K, with an activation energy of 17 meV reflecting the presence of nonradiative defects. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Semiconductor nanowires have recently emerged as a new class of materials with significant potential to reveal new fundamental physics and to propel new applications in quantum electronic and optoelectronic devices. Semiconductor nanowires show exceptional promise as nanostructured materials for exploring physics in reduced dimensions and in complex geometries, as well as in one-dimensional nanowire devices. They are compatible with existing semiconductor technologies and can be tailored into unique axial and radial heterostructures. In this contribution we review the recent efforts of our international collaboration which have resulted in significant advances in the growth of exceptionally high quality IIIV nanowires and nanowire heterostructures, and major developments in understanding the electronic energy landscapes of these nanowires and the dynamics of carriers in these nanowires using photoluminescence, time-resolved photoluminescence and terahertz conductivity spectroscopy. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semiconductor nanowire (NW) heterostructures are increasingly important building blocks for electronic and optoelectronic devices. III-V nanowires with attention to well-controlled growth parameters, high structural quality and high optical quality NWs with unusually long recombination lifetimes can be achieved. We probe these NWs experimentally with both CW and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. The large surface-to-volume ratio is an intrinsic characteristic of nanowires which highlights the critical importance of surface and interface quality.

In conventional planar growth of bulk III-V materials, a slow growth rate favors high crystallographic quality, optical quality, and purity of the resulting material. Surprisingly, we observe exactly the opposite effect for Au-assisted GaAs nanowire growth. By employing a rapid growth rate, the resulting nanowires are markedly less tapered, are free of planar crystallographic defects, and have very high purity with minimal intrinsic dopant incorporation. Importantly, carrier lifetimes are not adversely affected. These results reveal intriguing behavior in the growth of nanoscale materials, and represent a significant advance toward the rational growth of nanowires for device applications.

Measuring the Energy Landscape in Single Semiconductor Nanowires L.M. Smith, H.E. Jackson, J. Yarrison-Rice and Ch. Jagadish Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0011, United States Department of Physics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, United States Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics and Engineering The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Mid-infrared GaAs1-xSbx/InP core/shell nanowires are grown coherently with perfectly twin-free zinc blende crystal structure. An unusual triangular InP shell with predominantly {112}A facets instead of {112}B facets is reported. It is found that this polarity preference is due to the surfactant role of Sb, which inhibits InP shell growth rate in the 112-A directions. This behavior reveals a new degree of control and tunability allowed in manipulating nanowire facet geometry and polarity in radial heterostructures by a simple means. Tuning the Sb composition in the core yields controllable intense photoluminescence emission in both the 1.3 and 1.5 μm optical telecommunication windows, up to room temperature for single nanowires. The internal quantum efficiency of the core/shell nanowires is experimentally determined to be as high as 56% at room temperature. Transient Rayleigh scattering analysis brings complementary information, revealing the photoexcited carrier lifetime in the core/shell nanowire to be ≈100 ps at 300 K and ≈800 ps at 10 K. In comparison, the carrier lifetime of core-only nanowire is below the detection limit of the system (25 ps). The demonstrated superior optical quality of the core/shell nanowires and their ideal emission wavelength range makes them highly relevant candidates for near-infrared optoelectronic applications.

Microfluorescence spectroscopy is used to measure the nature of stress transfer from matrix to fiber in a unidirectional fiber composite. A hybrid SiC fiber reinforced transparent glass matrix composite containing a few sapphire sensor fibers is developed. Sapphire fiber is used as a probe to generate fluorescence signal to measure stress in the fiber. The measured nature of load sharing by the fiber under flexural loading is compared with analytical predictions.

We present the fabrication and initial testing of novel optically interrogated pressure and temperature sensors fabricated directly on optical fibers using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. A new micromachining process for use on a flat fiber end face that includes photolithographic patterning, wet etching of a cavity and anodic bonding of a silicon diaphragm is utilized. Two prototype pressure sensors, fabricated on 400 μm diameter multimode fibers, have been tested displaying an approximately linear response to static pressure (14–80 psi). A prototype temperature sensor, fabricated by anodically bonding an ultra-thin crystalline silicon onto a fiber end face, has been tested in the range 25–300 °C. A minimum detectable temperature variation of 6 °C is observed. Since these sensors are significantly miniaturized, they will find application in situations where small size is advantageous and where dense arrays may be useful.

Using transient Rayleigh scattering (TRS) measurements, we obtain photoexcited carrier thermalization dynamics for both zincblende (ZB) and wurtzite (WZ) InP single nanowires (NW) with picosecond resolution. A phenomenological fitting model based on direct band to band transition theory is developed to extract the electron-hole-plasma density and temperature as a function of time from TRS measurements of single nanowires which have complex valence band structures. We find that the thermalization dynamics of hot carriers depends strongly on material (GaAs NW vs. InP NW) and less strongly on crystal structure (ZB vs. WZ). The thermalization dynamics of ZB and WZ InP NWs are similar. But a comparison of the thermalization dynamics in ZB and WZ InP NWs with ZB GaAs NW reveals more than an order of magnitude slower relaxation for the InP NWs. We interpret these results as reflecting their distinctive phonon band structures which lead to different hot phonon effects. Knowledge of hot carrier thermalization dynamics is an essential component for effective incorporation of nanowire materials into electronic devices.

Residual stress in fibers of a sapphire-fiber-reinforced glass-matrix composite arising from thermal expansion mismatch is characterized by measuring the shift of the optical fluorescence lines of Cr+3 in sapphire. The stress is found to vary along the fiber length as well as across the fiber cross-section for an uncoated fiber embedded in a glass matrix. Some finite residual stress is also measured at the fiber ends. Analytical models to explain the experimentally measured stress variations are proposed. The high spatial resolution of the microprobe spectrometer is demonstrated for mapping stresses across a specific section of the composite.

We review GaAs and InP nanowires and GaAs based nanowire heterostructures grown on (111)B substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition via vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. Transmission electron microscopy, time-resolved photoluminescence and micro-Raman spectroscopy have been used to understand the crystal structure, carrier lifetime and strain effects on the bandgap energy. © 2011 IEEE.

Reciprocating sliding friction experiments in humid air and in dry nitrogen and unidirectional sliding friction experiments in ultrahigh vacuum were conducted with a natural diamond pin in contact with microwave‐plasma‐deposited diamond films. Diamond films with a surface roughness (R rms) ranging from 15 to 160 nm were produced by microwave‐plasma‐assisted chemical vapor deposition. In humid air and in dry nitrogen, abrasion occurred when the diamond pin made grooves in the surfaces of diamond films, and thus, the initial coefficients of friction increased with increasing initial surface roughness. The equilibrium coefficients of friction were independent of the initial surface roughness of the diamond films. In vacuum the friction for diamond films contacting a diamond pin arose primarily from adhesion between the sliding surfaces. In these cases, the initial and equilibrium coefficients of friction were independent of the initial surface roughness of the diamond films. The equilibrium coefficients of f...

We investigate vertical and defect-free growth of GaAs nanowires on Si (111) substrates via a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism with Au catalysts by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). By using annealed thin GaAs buffer layers on the surface of Si substrates, most nanowires are grown on the substrates straight, following (111) direction; by using two temperature growth, the nanowires were grown free from structural defects, such as twin defects and stacking faults. Systematic experiments about buffer layers indicate that V/III ratio of precursor and growth temperature can affect the morphology and quality of the buffer layers. Especially, heterostructural buffer layers grown with different V/III ratios and temperatures and in-situ post-annealing step are very helpful to grow well arranged, vertical GaAs nanowires on Si substrates. The initial nanowires having some structural defects can be defect-free by two-temperature growth mode with improved optical property, which shows us positive possibility for optoelectronic device application. ©2010 IEEE.

A rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system has been used to initiate indiffusion of Ti into LiNbO(3) for fabrication of optical channel waveguides. Four separate processes are investigated, each with different RTA temperature vs time variations followed by furnace heating. The sample processed with a fast initial ramp of temperature vs time to 875 degrees C yielded the lowest waveguide propagation loss of 1 dB/cm at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, compared with samples processed with other RTA variations and with a sample undergoing only furnace processing. Use of a dry O(2) ambient during RTA resulted in a smoother waveguide surface with no outdiffusion, when compared with use of a wet O(2) ambient.

Highly strained GaAs/GaP nanowires of excellent optical quality were grown with 50 nm diameter GaAs cores and 25 nm GaP shells. Photoluminescence from these nanowires is observed at energies dramatically shifted from the unstrained GaAs free exciton emission energy by 260 meV. Using Raman scattering, we show that it is possible to separately measure the degree of compressive and shear strain of the GaAs core and show that the Raman response of the GaP shell is consistent with tensile strain. The Raman and photoluminescence measurement are both on good agreement with 8 band k.p calculations. This result opens up new possibilities for engineering the electronic properties of the nanowires for optimal design of one-dimensional nanodevices by controlling the strain of the core and shell by varying the nanowire geometry.

Planar GaAlAs optical waveguides in which the waveguide core region is composed of multiple quantum wells are considered. Calculations of optical waveguide dispersion are performed to determine variations in effective refractive indexes for TE and TM modes and in the mode birefringence for large ranges of total waveguide thickness, number, and refractive index of well and barrier layers, and the ratio of well and barrier layer thickness. Ranges of these parameters which yield optical waveguides having unusually high birefringence and optical waveguides supporting single polarization planar propagation only are identified. >

Selectively oxidized vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELS) have been studied by spectrally resolved near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). We have obtained spatially and spectrally resolved images of both subthreshold emission and lasing emission from a selectively oxidized VCSEL operating at a wavelength of 850 nm. Below threshold, highly local high gain regions, emitting local intensity maxima within the active area, were observed; these were found to serve as lasing centers just above threshold. Above threshold, the near field spatial modal distributions of low order transverse modes were identified by spectrally analyzing the emission; these were found to be complex and significantly different from those measured in the far field.

Straight, vertically aligned GaAs nanowires were grown on Si(111) substrates coated with thin GaAs buffer layers. We find that the V/III precursor ratio and growth temperature are crucial factors influencing the morphology and quality of buffer layers. A double layer structure, consisting of a thin initial layer grown at low V/III ratio and low temperature followed by a layer grown at high V/III ratio and high temperature, is crucial for achieving straight, vertically aligned GaAs nanowires on Si(111) substrates. An in situ annealing step at high temperature after buffer layer growth improves the surface and structural properties of the buffer layer, which further improves the morphology of the GaAs nanowire growth. Through such optimizations we show that vertically aligned GaAs nanowires can be fabricated on Si(111) substrates and achieve the same structural and optical properties as GaAs nanowires grown directly on GaAs(111)B substrates.

GaAs and InP based nanowires were grown epitaxially on GaAs or InP (111)B substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using Au nanoparticles as catalyst. In this talk, I will give an overview of nanowire research activities in our group. Especially, the effects of growth parameters for GaAs and InP nanowires on the crystal quality have been studied in detail. We demonstrated the ability to obtain defect-free GaAs nanowires and control the crystal structure of InP nanowires, ie, WZ or ZB, by choosing a combination of growth parameters, such as temperature, V/III ratio and nanowire diameter. © 2009 IEEE.

A single polarization optical waveguide structure is introduced and demonstrated experimentally. The optical waveguide structure considered is a silicon nitride film deposited onto an oxidized silicon wafer so as to form a single-mode planar waveguide. Single polarization is achieved by choosing layer thicknesses, so that the attenuation due to substrate coupling for the TM mode is much larger than that for the TE mode. Calculations are presented to define ranges of design parameters over which TM attenuation can be 3-4 orders of magnitude higher than that for TE. In one sample having a TE loss of 0.28 dB/cm measured at a wavelength of 0.63 mu m a ratio of TM to TE attenuation of over 750 is experimentally demonstrated. >

We investigate how to tailor the structural, crystallographic and optical properties of GaAs nanowires. Nanowires were grown by Au nanoparticle-catalyzed metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. A high arsine flow rate, that is, a high ratio of group V to group III precursors, imparts significant advantages. It dramatically reduces planar crystallographic defects and reduces intrinsic carbon dopant incorporation. Increasing V/III ratio further, however, instigates nanowire kinking and increases nanowire tapering. By choosing an intermediate V/III ratio we achieve uniform, vertically aligned GaAs nanowires, free of planar crystallographic defects, with excellent optical properties and high purity. These findings will greatly assist the development of future GaAs nanowire-based electronic and optoelectronic devices, and are expected to be more broadly relevant to the rational synthesis of other III-V nanowires. © 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA.

Low-temperature time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy is used to probe the dynamics of photoexcited carriers in single InP nanowires. At early times after pulsed excitation, the photoluminescence line shape displays a characteristic broadening, consistent with emission from a degenerate, high-density electron-hole plasma. As the electron-hole plasma cools and the carrier density decreases, the emission rapidly converges toward a relatively narrow band consistent with free exciton emission from the InP nanowire. The free excitons in these single InP nanowires exhibit recombination lifetimes closely approaching that measured in a high-quality epilayer, suggesting that in these InP nanowires, electrons and holes are relatively insensitive to surface states. This results in higher quantum efficiencies than other single-nanowire systems as well as significant state-filling and band gap renormalization, which is observed at high electron-hole carrier densities.

Nonequilibrium spin distributions in single GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell nanowires are excited using resonant polarized excitation at 10 K. At all excitation energies, we observe strong photoluminescence polarization due to suppressed radiative recombination of excitons with dipoles aligned perpendicular to the nanowire. Excitation resonances are observed at 1- or 2-LO phonon energies above the exciton ground states. Using rate equation modeling, we show that, at the lowest energies, strongly nonequilibrium spin distributions are present and we estimate their spin relaxation rate.

We use low temperature spatially resolved photoluminescence imaging to study optical properties and electronic states of single CdS and GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell nanowires. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Exciton resonances are observed in photocurrent spectra of 80 nm wurtzite InP nanowire devices at low temperatures, which correspond to transitions between the A, B, and C valence bands and the lower conduction band. Photocurrent spectra for 30 nm WZ nanowires exhibit shifts of the exciton resonances to higher energy, which are consistent with finite element calculations of wavefunctions of the confined electrons and holes for the various bands.

We study exciton spin-relaxation in CdTe self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) by using polarized photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy in magnetic field. Experiments on single CdTe QDs and on large QD ensembles show that by combining LO phonon-assisted absorption with circularly polarized excitation, spin-polarized excitons are photoexcited directly into the ground states of QDs. We find that for single symmetric QDs at $B=0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{T}$, where the exciton levels are degenerate, the spins randomize very rapidly, so that no net spin polarization is observed. In contrast, when this degeneracy is lifted by only a fraction of a Kelvin through the application of small magnetic fields, optically created spin-polarized excitons maintain their polarization on a time scale much longer than the exciton recombination time. Similar behaviors are found in a large ensemble of CdTe QDs. Finally, due to strong electronic confinement in CdTe QDs, the large spin polarization of excitons shows no dependence on the number of LO phonons emitted between the virtual state and the ground state of the exciton.

Using resonantly excited photoluminescence (PL) along with photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopies, we study the carrier excitation processes in $\mathrm{CdTe}∕\mathrm{ZnTe}$ and $\mathrm{CdSe}∕\mathrm{ZnSe}$ self-assembled quantum dots (QD's). PLE spectra of single $\mathrm{CdTe}$ QD's reflect two major mechanisms for carrier excitation: The first, associated with the presence of sharp and intense lines in the spectrum, is a direct excited-state--ground-state transition. The second, associated with the appearance of up to four much broader excitation lines, is a longitudinal optical (LO) phonon-assisted absorption directly into the QD ground states. LO phonons with energies of both QD's and $\mathrm{ZnTe}$ barrier material are identified in the PLE spectra. Resonantly excited PL measurements for the QD ensemble as a function of excitation energy makes it possible to separate the contributions of these two mechanisms. We find that for $\mathrm{CdTe}$ QD's the distribution of excited states coupled to the ground states reflects the energy distribution of the QD emission, but shifted up in energy by $100\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{meV}$. This large splitting between excited and ground states in $\mathrm{CdTe}$ QD's suggests strong spatial confinement. In contrast, the LO phonon-assisted absorption shows significant size selectivity. In the case of $\mathrm{CdTe}$ dots the exciton-LO phonon coupling is strongly enhanced for smaller-sized dots which have higher emission energies. In contrast, for $\mathrm{CdSe}$ QD's the strength of exciton-LO phonon coupling is nearly uniform over the whole ensemble---that is, the dot energy distribution determines the intensities of LO phonon replicas. We show that for $\mathrm{CdTe}$ QD's after annealing, that is, after an increase in the average dot size, the exciton-LO phonon interaction reflects the dot energy distribution, as observed for $\mathrm{CdSe}$ QD's.

The effects of interdiffusion on the band structure of two MxGaUxAs/GaAs single quantum well (SQW) structures were studied using room temperature photoreflectance. Rapid thermal annealing of the SQW structures at temperatures of 800°C, 900°C and 1000°C for times up to 180 seconds resulted in limited interdiffusion. Low dose (1014 cm”2) oxygen implantation reduced the thermal stability of these structures where the extent of the interdiffusion was found to be greater for the implanted samples for identical annealing conditions.

We acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation through grants DMR-0806700, 0806572, 1105362, 1105121, and ECCS-1100489, and the Australian Research Council.

The InP nanowires are grown by vapor-liquid-solid growth catalyzed by 20 and 50 nm gold nanoparticles on an InP substrate at 400 C using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. The 50 nm nanowires were grown with a V/III ratio of 350, while the 20 nm nanowires were grown at a V/III ratio of 700. 9 Extensive cw and time-resolved PL measurements at low temperatures have shown that the 20 nm wires are predominantly WZ, while the 50 nm nanowires are predominantly ZB, with some twins and stacking faults present as determined by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging. 3,4,9 To obtain individual nano

We have utilized polarized low temperature photoluminescence (PL) to probe the electronic states and structural symmetries of individual CdS nanosheets. High resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate highly crystalline material with different nanosheets exhibiting significant variations of the direction of the c axis, which are consistent with polarization measurements of PL from single CdS nanosheets. The quality of the nanosheets is reflected in measurements of exciton lifetimes of ∼200ps, a value significantly longer than observed for CdS nanowires whose diameter is the same as the thickness of these nanosheets, but shorter than that observed in bulk crystals.

We have utilized spatially resolved low temperature photoluminescence to probe the electronic states and structural symmetries of individual single crystalline CdS nanosheets. Spatially resolved photoluminescence imaging of a single CdS nanosheet reveals a distinctive spectral variation across the nanosheet. We observe A-like exciton states which emit most strongly near the outer edges of the 5μm wide nanosheet, while B-like exciton states emit most strongly along the center region of the 30μm long axis of the nanosheet.

We use polarization-resolved and temperature-dependent photoluminescence of single zincblende (ZB) (cubic) and wurtzite (WZ) (hexagonal) InP nanowires to probe differences in selection rules and bandgaps between these two semiconductor nanostructures. The WZ nanowires exhibit a bandgap 80 meV higher in energy than the ZB nanowires. The temperature dependence of the PL is similar but not identical for the WZ and ZB nanowires. We find that ZB nanowires exhibit strong polarization parallel to the nanowire axis, while the WZ nanowires exhibit polarized emission perpendicular to the nanowire axis. This behavior is interpreted in terms of the different selection rules for WZ and ZB crystal structures. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Mode properties of four-layer planar optical waveguides near cutoff are considered. The four-layer structures considered are applicable to waveguiding layers formed on cladding layers above either silicon or gallium arsenide substrates. Perturbation approaches are shown to be accurate except near mode cutoff where a numerical solution of the four-layer equations is required. Numerical calculations of waveguide attenuation due to substrate coupling for thermally nitrided silicon dioxide and for gallium aluminum arsenide waveguides are presented for a variety of layer thicknesses, layer material compositions, and wavelengths. Comparison to some experimental data is included.