DEVELOPMENT AND STUDY OF THE OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF INGAAS GAAS QUANTUM WIRES/

A method of reactive ionic etching of InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures wit h a single In0.15Ga0.85As quantum well 10 nm thick, in which the etchi ng was followed by epitaxial burial, was used to make quantum wires 60 -70 nm wide. The photoluminescence spectra of the original structures with a quantum well and of samples with quantum wires were studied at T = 77 K. The luminescence spectra of quantum wells were found to be d ifferent from those of quantum wires, indicating that the electronic e xcitations of samples with quantum wires are one-dimensional in nature . In contrast with the luminescence spectra of quantum wells, the spec tra of samples with quantum wires reveal a predominant linear polariza tion of the luminescence in the direction of the axis of the wires. Th e maxima of the luminescence spectra of the quantum wires were found t o be shifted toward the short-wavelength region relative to the maxima of the luminescence lines of quantum wells. A study of the effect of the intensity of exciting light on the shape of the luminescence spect ra has identified an important property of the one-dimensional electro nic states-their density of states decreases with increasing energy. ( C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.