Optical properties of III–V semiconductor quantum wires and dots

Abstract

I review here the brief history and present status of research on the optical properties of III–V semiconductor quantum wires and dots. These efforts are driven in part by predictions of interesting linear and nonlinear optical properties for these structures. Experimental work has focused on various schemes to make uniform arrays of structures. New techniques developed for making these arrays have been followed by the observation of large zero-point energies and subband splittings for electrons, and modified exciton binding energies and selection rules for optical transitions in quantum wires.