Design of columnar quantum dots for polarization-independent emission using 8–band k·p method

Abstract

Control of the polarization of the emitted light can be highly beneficial for certain optoelectronic applications such as optical amplifiers. It has been recently demonstrated experimentally that semiconductor quantum dots with large height to base length aspect ratio are able to emit polarization-independent light from the edge of the wafer. However, analysis of the physics responsible for the observed polarization properties of such nano–objects (like columnar quantum dots or quantum rods) is still rather limited. In particular, the role of the material surrounding the columnar QD on the strain and thus on the polarization properties has not been considered previously. We report here, based on original software, the results of eight–band k·p calculations of the electronic and polarization properties of columnar InyGa1-yAs quantum dots (CQD) with high aspect ratio (up to 6) embedded in an InxGa1-xAs/GaAs quantum well. We calculate the relative intensities of transverse-magnetic (TM) and transverse-electric (TE) linear polarized light emitted from the edge of the semiconductor wafer as a function of the two main factors affecting the heavy hole – light hole valence band mixing and hence the polarization dependent selection rules for the optical transitions, namely i) the composition contrast y/x between the dot material and the surrounding well, and ii) the dot aspect ratio. Our numerical results show, in contrast to the previously reported expectations, that the former is the main driving parameter for tuning the polarization properties. This is explained analyzing the biaxial strain in the CQD, based on which it is possible to predict on the TM to TE intensity ratio.