Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
The optical properties of quantum wires (QWRs) grown using lateral composition modulation (LCM) were studied by photoluminescence (PL) measurement as a function cryostat temperature (T cr ). 3 stacked arrays of QWRs were formed by sequential growth of ∼ 180 Å-thick LCM layers (lateral period: ∼ 90 Å) induced by (InP)1/(GaP)1 short-period superlattices, and 200 Å-thick InGaP spacers at the growth temperature of 490 °C. The formation of QWRs was confirmed by a transmission electron microscopy measurement. By the analysis of the dependence of PL intensity and peak energy of the QWRs on T cr , the origin of higher energy peak (H) and lower energy peak (L) were investigated. While behavior of the H peak is similar to that of an ordered InGaP, the L peak shows the insensitivity of PL peak energy to T cr . This is attributed to compensation of the bandgap by competition of strain in the QWR region and indicates the L peak is related to the QWRs. Strong dependence of the L peak on the position of polarizer also supports this. Additionally, the PL peak intensity of the L peak has the maximum value not at the lowest T cr (10 K) but at 50 K, while the H peak decrease continuously as T increases. We introduced the idea of compensation of the thermal expansion coefficient to explain this phenomenon.