arXiv subjects

Akhil Ajay

Publications and source records attributed to Akhil Ajay.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

MBE-grown virtual substrates for quantum dots emitting in the telecom O- and C-bands

InAs semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) emitting in the near infrared are promising platforms for on-demand single-photon sources and spin-photon interfaces. However, the realization of quantum-photonic nanodevices emitting in the second and third telecom windows with similar performance remains an open challenge. Here, we report an optimized heterostructure design for QDs emitting in the O- and C-bands grown by means of molecular beam epitaxy. The InAs QDs are grown on compositionally graded InGaAs buffers, which act as virtual substrates, and are embedded in mostly relaxed active regions. Reciprocal space maps of the indium profiles and optical absorption spectra are used to optimize In0.22Ga0.78As and In0.30Ga0.70As active regions, accounting for the chosen indium grading profile. This approach results in a tunable QD photoluminescence (PL) emission from 1200 up to 1600 nm. Power and polarization dependent micro-PL measurements performed at 4 K reveal exciton-biexciton complexes from quantum dots emitting in the telecom O- and C-bands. The presented study establishes a flexible platform that can be an essential component for advanced photonic devices based on InAs/GaAs that serve as building blocks for future quantum networks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Correlated electro-optical and structural study of electrically tunable nanowire quantum dot emitters

Quantum dots inserted in semiconducting nanowires are a promising platform for the fabrication of single photon devices. However, it is difficult to fully comprehend the electro-optical behaviour of such quantum objects without correlated studies of the structural and optical properties on the same nanowire. In this work, we study the spectral tunability of the emission of a single quantum dot in a GaN nanowire by applying external bias. The nanowires are dispersed and contacted on electron beam transparent Si3N4 membranes, so that transmission electron microscopy observations, photocurrent and micro-photoluminescence measurements under bias can be performed on the same specimen. The emission from a single dot blue or red shifts when the external electric field compensates or enhances the internal electric field generated by the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization. A detailed study of two nanowire specimens emitting at 327.5 nm and 307.5 nm shows spectral shifts at rates of 20 and 12 meV/V, respectively. Theoretical calculations facilitated by the modelling of the

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Effect of the nanowire diameter on the linearity of the response of GaN-based heterostructured nanowire photodetectors

Nanowire photodetectors are investigated because of their compatibility with flexible electronics, or for the implementation of on-chip optical interconnects. Such devices are characterized by ultrahigh photocurrent gain, but their photoresponse scales sublinearly with the optical power. Here, we present a study of single-nanowire photodetectors displaying a linear response to ultraviolet illumination. Their structure consists of a GaN nanowire incorporating an AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructure, which generates an internal electric field. The activity of the heterostructure is confirmed by the rectifying behavior of the current-voltage characteristics in the dark, as well as by the asymmetry of the photoresponse in magnitude and linearity. Under reverse bias (negative bias on the GaN cap segment), the detectors behave linearly with the impinging optical power when the nanowire diameter is below a certain threshold ($\approx$ 80 nm), which corresponds to the total depletion of the nanowire stem due to the Fermi level pinning at the sidewalls. In the case of nanowires that are only partially depleted, their nonlinearity is explained by a nonlinear variation of the diameter of their central conducting channel under illumination.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Effect of Ge-doping on the short-wave, mid- and far-infrared intersubband transitions in GaN/AlGaN heterostructures

This paper assesses the effects of Ge-doping on the structural and optical (band-to-band and intersubband (ISB)) properties of GaN/AlGaN multi-quantum wells (QWs) designed to display ISB absorption in the short-wave, mid- and far-infrared ranges (SWIR, MIR, and FIR, respectively). The standard c-plane crystallographic orientation is considered for wells absorbing in the SWIR and MIR spectral regions, whereas the FIR structures are grown along the nonpolar m-axis. In all cases, we compare the characteristics of Ge-doped and Si-doped samples with the same design and various doping levels. The use of Ge appears to improve the mosaicity of the highly lattice-mismatched GaN/AlN heterostructures. However, when reducing the lattice mismatch, the mosaicity is rather determined by the substrate and does not show any dependence on the dopant nature or concentration. From the optical point of view, by increasing the dopant density, we observe a blueshift of the photoluminescence in polar samples due to the screening of the internal electric field by free carriers. In the ISB absorption, on the other hand, there is a systematic improvement of the linewidth when using Ge as a dopant for high doping levels, whatever the spectral region under consideration (i.e. different QW size, barrier composition and crystallographic orientation).

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Near-infrared intersubband photodetection in GaN/AlN nanowires

Intersubband optoelectronic devices rely on transitions between quantum-confined electron levels in semiconductor heterostructures, which enables infrared (IR) photodetection in the 1-30 $μ$m wavelength window with picosecond response times. Incorporating nanowires as active media could enable an independent control over the electrical cross-section of the device and the optical absorption cross-section. Furthermore, the three-dimensional carrier confinement in nanowire heterostructures opens new possibilities to tune the carrier relaxation time. However, the generation of structural defects and the surface sensitivity of GaAs nanowires have so far hindered the fabrication of nanowire intersubband devices. Here, we report the first demonstration of intersubband photodetection in a nanowire, using GaN nanowires containing a GaN/AlN superlattice absorbing at 1.55 $μ$m. The combination of spectral photocurrent measurements with 8-band k$\cdot$p calculations of the electronic structure supports the interpretation of the result as intersubband photodetection in these extremely short-period superlattices. We observe a linear dependence of the photocurrent with the incident illumination power, which confirms the insensitivity of the intersubband process to surface states and highlights how architectures featuring large surface-to-volume ratios are suitable as intersubband photodetectors. Our analysis of the photocurrent characteristics points out routes for an improvement of the device performance. This first nanowire based intersubband photodetector represents a technological breakthrough that paves the way to a powerful device platform with potential for ultrafast, ultrasensitive photodetectors and highly-efficient quantum cascade emitters with improved thermal stability.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Near- and mid-infrared intersubband absorption in top-down GaN/AlN nano- and micropillars

We present a systematic study of top-down processed GaN/AlN heterostructures for intersubband optoelectronic applications. Samples containing quantum well superlattices that display either near- or mid-infrared intersubband absorption were etched into nano- and micropillar arrays in an inductively coupled plasma. We investigate the influence of this process on the structure and strain-state, on the interband emission and on the intersubband absorption. Notably, for pillar spacings significantly smaller ($\leq1/3$) than the intersubband wavelength, the magnitude of the intersubband absorption is not reduced even when 90\% of the material is etched away and a similar linewidth is obtained. The same holds for the interband emission. In contrast, for pillar spacings on the order of the intersubband absorption wavelength, the intersubband absorption is masked by refraction effects and photonic crystal modes. The presented results are a first step towards micro- and nanostructured group-III nitride devices relying on intersubband transitions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗