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Cavity quantum electrodynamics, a central research field in optics and solid-state physics 1 , 2 , 3 , addresses properties of atom-like emitters in cavities and can be divided into a weak and a strong coupling regime. For weak coupling, the spontaneous emission can be enhanced or reduced compared with its vacuum level by tuning discrete cavity modes in and out of resonance with the emitter 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 . However, the most striking change of emission properties occurs when the conditions for strong coupling are fulfilled. In this case there is a change from the usual irreversible spontaneous emission to a reversible exchange of energy between the emitter and the cavity mode. This coherent coupling may provide a basis for future applications in quantum information processing or schemes for coherent control. Until now, strong coupling of individual two-level systems has been observed only for atoms in large cavities 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . Here we report the observation of strong coupling of a single two-level solid-state system with a photon, as realized by a single quantum dot in a semiconductor microcavity. The strong coupling is manifest in photoluminescence data that display anti-crossings between the quantum dot exciton and cavity-mode dispersion relations, characterized by a vacuum Rabi splitting of about 140 µeV.

The lateral interdot coupling is investigated in high density (∼10 cm−2 ) self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on an InP substrate. Two types of structures are selected for this study, in which QDs are embedded into an InAlAs matrix, forming nearly twice stronger confinement for an electron and a hole than expected for an InAlGaAs counterpart. Resonantly injected low carrier population in these families of QDs gives very different spectral and temporal response in the temperature range of 5-30 K. While InAs/InAlGaAs QDs show monotonic temperature quench of photoluminescence (PL), the process seems to be ineffective in the family of InAs/InAlAs dots. Moreover, the PL decay traces for InAs/InAlGaAs QDs reveal a two-exponential decay as compared to a mono-exponential one observed for InAs/InAlAs dots. While a short decay component of ≤1.9 ns has been attributed to recombination of an electron-hole pair confined in the dot, the long one of >2.4 ns, observed exclusively for InAs/InGaAlAs QDs, is attributed to recombination of spatially separated electron-hole pairs formed due to carrier exchange between adjacent dots.

The issue of quantum mechanical coupling between a semiconductor quantum dot and a quantum well is studied in two families of GaAs- and InP- based structures at cryogenic temperatures. It is shown that by tuning the quantum well parameters one can strongly disturb the 0D-character of the coupled system ground state, initially located in a dot. The out-coupling of either an electron or a hole state from the quantum dot confining potential is viewed by a significant elongation of the photoluminescence decay time constant. Band structure calculations show that in the GaAs-based coupled system at its ground state a hole remains isolated in the dot, whereas an electron gets delocalized towards the quantum well. The opposite picture is built for the ground state of a coupled system based on InP.

In this work, AlGaAs/GaAs superlattice, with layers’ sequence and compositions imitating the active and injector regions of a quantum cascade laser designed for emission in the terahertz spectral range, was investigated. Three independent absorption-like optical spectroscopy techniques were employed in order to study the band structure of the minibands formed within the conduction band. Photoreflectance measurements provided information about interband transitions in the investigated system. Common transmission spectra revealed, in the target range of intraband transitions, mainly a number of lines associated with the phonon-related processes, including two-phonon absorption. In contrast, differential transmittance realized by means of Fourier-transform spectroscopy was utilized to probe the confined states of the conduction band. The obtained energy separation between the second and third confined electron levels, expected to be predominantly contributing to the lasing, was found to be ~9 meV. The optical spectroscopy measurements were supported by numerical calculations performed in the effective mass approximation and XRD measurements for layers’ width verification. The calculated energy spacings are in a good agreement with the experimental values.

Optical properties of single self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs quantum dashes have been investigated. The excitation power dependent measurements together with the rate equation model calculations enable to identify the excitonic and biexcitonic emission from one quantum dash. Based on that the biexciton binding energy and the relative exciton to biexciton lifetime ratio have been estimated. The emission spectra have also revealed a fingerprint of Coulomb interaction between excitons confined in the quantum dash and adjacent wetting layer. The conditions required for observing this phenomena and the influence of the wetting layer on the emission of individual quantum dashes have been discussed.

There are presented optical properties of strongly in-plane elongated nanostructures the so called quantum dashes made in InAs/InP material system by molecular beam epitaxy. They have been investigated systematically by a spectroscopic manner on both the entire ensemble and on the single dash level. Their properties are discussed with respect to the fundamental electronic and optical properties as the polarization of emission and the corresponding driving factors, exciton fine structure splitting, biexciton binding energy, the characteristic exciton to biexciton lifetimes ratio and exciton decoherence via interaction with acoustic phonons. The experimental results are analyzed supported by previous energy level calculations within the eight-band kp theory and the rate equation modeling of the exciton kinetics.

The limited speed of direct modulation due to the significant population of hot carriers in quantum dots (QD) is a major drawback of the application of QD based lasers in fibre optics telecommunication. One of the most promising methods of alleviating this problem is the design of tunnel injection (TI) structures, where already cold carries are injected by means of tunnelling through a thin barrier from an adjacent quantum well (QW) directly to the QD ground state. We have investigated the properties of TI structures consisting of an InxGa1−xAs quantum well and a layer of self-assembled In0.6Ga0.4As/GaAs quantum dots versus the properties a reference QD sample. Photoreflectance spectroscopy is applied to determine the energies of optical transitions in this complex system. The obtained energies are then used to verify the reliability of the calculations in the 8 band kp model, which take into account the realistic geometry of the dots, influence of the strain and the coupling between the dot layer and the injector quantum well. Finally, time resolved photoluminescence (PL) experiment is performed at low temperature and its results are related to the acquired structure of confined levels. The influence of the tunnelling process on PL rise and decay times is explained.

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.

We demonstrate that optical excitation of InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded directly in an InP matrix can be mediated via states in a quaternary compound constituting an InP/InGaAlAs bottom distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and native defects in the InP matrix. It does not only change the carrier relaxation in the structure but could also lead to the imbalanced occupation of QDs with charge carriers, because the band structure favors the transfer of holes. Thermal activation of carrier transfer can be observed as an increase in the emission intensity versus temperature for excitation powers below saturation on the level of both an inhomogeneously broadened QD ensemble and single QD transitions. That increase in the QD emission is accompanied by a decrease in the emission from the InGaAlAs layer at low temperatures. Finally, carrier transfer between the InGaAlAs layer of the DBR and the InAs/InP QDs is directly proven by the photoluminescence excitation spectrum of the QD ensemble. The reported carrier transfer can increase the relaxation time of carriers into the QDs and thus be detrimental to the coherence properties of single and entangled photons. It is important to take it into account while designing QD-based devices.

We demonstrate comprehensive numerical studies on a hybrid III-V/Si-based waveguide system, serving as a platform for efficient light coupling between an integrated III-V quantum dot emitter to an on-chip quantum photonic integrated circuit defined on a silicon substrate. We propose a platform consisting of a hybrid InP/Si waveguide and an InP-embedded InAs quantum dot, emitting at the telecom C-band near 1550 nm. The platform can be fabricated using the existing semiconductor processing technologies. Our numerical studies reveal nearly 86% of the optical field transfer efficiency between geometrically-optimized InP/Si and Si waveguides, considering propagating field modes along a tapered geometry. The coupling efficiency of a dipole emitting to the hybrid InP/Si waveguide is evaluated to ~60%, which results in more than 50% of the total on-chip optical field transfer efficiency from the dipole to the Si waveguide. We also consider the off-chip outcoupling efficiency of the propagating photon field along the Si waveguide by examining the normal to the chip plane and in-plain outcoupling configurations. In the former case, the outcoupling amounts to ~26% when using the circular Bragg grating outcoupler design. In the latter case, the efficiency reaches up to 10%. Finally, we conclude that the conceptual device's performance is weakly susceptible to the transferred photon wavelength, offering a broadband operation within the 1.5-1.6 m spectral range.