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We investigate optical transitions and carrier dynamics in hybrid structures containing type-I GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) and type-II GaSb/AlGaAs quantum dots (QDs). We show that the optical recombination of photocreated electrons confined in the QWs with holes in the QDs and wetting layer can be modified according to the QW/QD spatial separation. In particular, for low spacer thicknesses, the QW optical emission can be suppressed due to the transference of holes from the QW to the GaSb layer, favoring the optical recombination of spatially separated carriers, which can be useful for optical memory and solar cell applications. Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal non-exponential recombination dynamics. We demonstrate that the PL transients can only be quantitatively described by considering both linear and quadratic terms of the carrier density in the bimolecular recombination approximation for type-II semiconductor nanostructures. We extract long exciton lifetimes from 700 ns to 5 μs for QDs depending on the spacer layer thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although extensive research on nanostructures has led to the discovery of a number of efficient ways to confine carriers in reduced dimensions, little has been done to make use of the unique properties of various nanostructured systems through coupling by means of the controllable transfer of carriers between them. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach for the controllable transfer of electrons and holes between a semiconductor quantum well and an embedded quantum dot using the moving piezoelectric potential modulation induced by an acoustic phonon. We show that this moving potential not only transfers carriers between the quantum well and an array of quantum dots, but can also control their capture and recombination in discrete quantum dot states within the array. This feature is used to demonstrate a high-frequency, single-photon source with tunable emission energy by acoustically transferring carriers to a selected quantum dot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]