Site-controlled InGaAs Quantum Dots Research Articles

Epitaxial growth and characterization of multi-layer site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots based on the buried stressor method

We report on the epitaxial growth, theoretical modeling, and structural as well as optical investigation of multi-layer, site-controlled quantum dots fabricated using the buried stressor method. This deterministic growth technique utilizes the strain from a partially oxidized AlAs layer to induce site-selective nucleation of InGaAs quantum dots. By implementing strain-induced spectral nano-engineering, we achieve spectral control of emission and a local increase in the emitter density. Furthermore, we achieve a threefold increase in the optical intensity and reduce the inhomogeneous broadening of the ensemble emission by 20% via stacking three layers of site-controlled emitters, which is valuable for using the SCQDs as a gain medium in microlaser applications. Our optimization of site-controlled growth of quantum dots enables the development of high-β microlasers with increased confinement factor.

Biexciton initialization by two-photon excitation in site-controlled quantum dots: The complexity of the antibinding state case

In this work, we present a biexciton state population in (111)B oriented site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) by resonant two photon excitation. We show that the excited state recombines emitting highly pure single photon pairs entangled in polarization. The discussed cases herein are compelling due to the specific energetic structure of pyramidal InGaAs QDs—an antibinding biexciton—a state with a positive binding energy. We demonstrate that resonant two-photon excitation of QDs with antibinding biexcitons can lead to a complex excitation-recombination scenario. We systematically observed that the resonant biexciton state population is competing with an acoustic-phonon assisted population of an exciton state. These findings show that under typical two-photon resonant excitation conditions, deterministic biexciton state initialization can be compromised. This complication should be taken into account by the community members aiming to utilize similar epitaxial QDs with an antibinding biexciton.

Development of site-controlled quantum dot arrays acting as scalable sources of indistinguishable photons

We report on the realization of an array of 28 × 28 mesas with site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots acting as single-photon sources for potential applications in photonic quantum technology. The site-selective growth of quantum dots is achieved by using the buried stressor approach where an oxide aperture serves as the nucleation site in the center of each mesa. Spectroscopic maps demonstrate the positioning of quantum dots with an inhomogeneous broadening of the ensemble emission of only 15.8 meV. Individual quantum dots are characterized by clean single-quantum-dot spectra with narrow exciton, biexciton, and trion lines, with a best value of 27 μeV and an ensemble average of 120 μeV. Beyond that, Hanbury Brown and Twiss and Hong-Ou-Mandel measurements validate the quantum nature of emission in terms of high single-photon purity and photon indistinguishability with a g(2)(0) value of (0.026 ± 0.026) and a post-selected two-photon interference visibility V = (87.1 ± 9.7)% with an associated coherence time of τc = (194 ± 7) ps.

A generalized plane-wave formulation of [formula omitted] formalism and continuum-elasticity approach to elastic and electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures

We present a generalized and flexible plane-wave based implementation of the multiband k·p formalism to study the electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures. All ingredients of the modeling process, namely the Hamiltonian, the nanostructure’s geometry and the required material parameters, are defined in human-readable input files that can be easily generated and modified. The generalized k·p model can contain an arbitrary number of directly treated bands as well as strain, piezoelectric, and external potentials. All calculations can be performed for arbitrary crystal structures. The nanostructure is described in terms of a real-space composition map that may contain an arbitrary number of base compounds and alloys. We demonstrate the applicability and flexibility of our implementation for the example of (111)-oriented, site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots, where a rotated eight-band k·p Hamiltonian is employed. As a second example, a 14-band k·p model that captures the bulk inversion asymmetry of the zinc-blende lattice is applied for the case of a pyramidal (001)-oriented InAs/GaAs quantum dot. Here we show that the explicit treatment of 14 bands removes the well known shortcoming of eight-band k·p models for (001)-oriented zinc-blende quantum dots which leads to artificially degenerate p-like electron states.

Optical Properties of Site-Controlled InGaAs Quantum Dots Embedded in GaAs Nanowires by Selective Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

We report the optical properties of site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by selective metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). InGaAs/GaAs QD-in-NWs with various QD heights and In compositions are realized on patterned GaAs(111)B substrates in the form of InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures, and identified by structural analyses using scanning transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence (PL) characterization, and numerical analyses of the band structure using a single-band effective mass approximation. Room temperature (RT) light emission is observed at 1.03 µm from InGaAs/GaAs QD-in-NWs which is indicative of the formation of high-quality InGaAs QD-in-NWs. Sharp emission peaks from exciton and biexciton of single In(Ga)As QD-in-NWs are observed by using µ-PL characterization at 10 K.

Optical Properties of Site-Controlled InGaAs Quantum Dots Embedded in GaAs Nanowires by Selective Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Optical Properties of Site-Controlled InGaAs Quantum Dots Embedded in GaAs Nanowires by Selective Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Physics of novel site controlled InGaAs quantum dots on (1 1 1) oriented substrates

Recent work has shown that site-controlled dots (QD) grown on (1 1 1)B GaAs substrates, pre-patterned with tetrahedral pyramidal recesses (Baier et al., 2006) [1], (Pelucchi et al., 2007) [2], (Zhu et al., 2007) [3] are suitable for the generation of single and entangled photons (Young et al., 2009) [4]. We recently introduced InGaAs/GaAs site controlled QD structures which demonstrated record breaking spectral purity, and we showed that increasing the indium concentration of the active region allows easy tunability of the emission wavelength (Mereni et al., 2009) [5,6]. We present here the first theoretical analysis of the emission energies and optical properties of this system as a function of QD height and In concentration. We model the dots using an 8 band k.p theory chosen to provide the best convergence and performance for structures oriented specifically along the (1 1 1) crystallographic direction.

A site-controlled quantum dot system offering both high uniformity and spectral purity

In this letter we report on the optical properties of site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots with GaAs barriers grown in pyramidal recesses by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The inhomogeneous broadening of excitonic emission from an ensemble of quantum dots is found to be unusually narrow, with a standard deviation of 1.19 meV and the spectral purity of emission lines from individual dots is found to be very high (18–30 μeV), in contrast with other site-controlled dot systems.

Optimization of the efficiency of single-photon sources based on quantum dots under optical excitation

We demonstrate efficient, regulated single-photon operation from site-controlled InGaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on a prepatterned substrate. Under nonresonant optical excitation, carriers trapped at structural or compositional defects of the adjacent nanostructures led to a degradation of the single-photon statistics from a QD. When the QD was excited quasiresonantly, single photons were emitted and a nearly complete suppression of multiphoton emission was achieved, making these QDs promising candidates for effective solid-state single-photon sources.