We report a strain-induced direct-to-indirect band gap transition in mechanically deformed WS 2 monolayers (MLs). The necessary amount of strain is attained by proton irradiation of bulk WS 2 and the ensuing formation of 1-ML-thick, H 2-filled domes. The electronic properties of the curved MLs are mapped by spatially and time-resolved microphotoluminescence, revealing the mechanical stress conditions that trigger the variation of the band gap character. This general phenomenon, also observed in MoS 2 and WSe 2 , further increases our understanding of the electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenide MLs and holds a great relevance for their optoelectronic applications.

The electron effective mass, m e , has been determined by magnetophotoluminescence in as-grown and hydrogenated GaAs 1−x N x samples for a wide range of nitrogen concentrations ͑from x Ͻ 0.01% to x = 1.78%͒. A modified k·p model, which takes into account hybridization effects between N cluster states and the conduction band edge, reproduces quantitatively the experimental m e values up to x ഛ 0.6%. Experimental and theoretical evidence is provided for the N complexes responsible for the nonmonotonic and initially puzzling compositional dependence of the electron mass.

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) formed by non-nitride III-V compounds grow preferentially with wurtzite (WZ) lattice. This is contrary to bulk and two-dimensional layers of the same compounds, where only zincblende (ZB) is observed. The absorption spectrum of WZ materials differs largely from their ZB counterparts and shows three transitions, referred to as A, B, and C in order of increasing energy, involving the minimum of the conduction band and different critical points of the valence band. In this work, we determine the temperature dependence (T = 10-310 K) of the energy of transitions A, B, and C in ensembles of WZ InP NWs by photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation (PLE) spectroscopy. For the whole temperature and energy ranges investigated, the PL and PLE spectra are quantitatively reproduced by a theoretical model taking into account contribution from both exciton and continuum states. WZ InP is found to behave very similarly to wide band gap III-nitrides and II-VI compounds, where the energy of A, B, and C displays the same temperature dependence. This finding unveils a general feature of the thermal properties of WZ materials that holds regardless of the bond polarity and energy gap of the crystal. Furthermore, no differences are observed in the temperature dependence of the fundamental band gap energy in WZ InP NWs and ZB InP (both NWs and bulk). This result points to a negligible role played by the WZ/ZB differences in determining the deformation potentials and the extent of the electron-phonon interaction that is a direct consequence of the similar nearest neighbor arrangement in the two lattices.

InAs nanowires (NWs) have been grown on semi-insulating InAs (111)B substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition catalyzed by 50, 100, and 150 nm-sized Au particles. The pure wurtzite (WZ) phase of these NWs has been attested by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area diffraction pattern measurements. Low temperature photoluminescence measurements have provided unambiguous and robust evidence of a well resolved, isolated peak at 0.477 eV, namely 59 meV higher than the band gap of ZB InAs. The WZ nature of this energy band has been demonstrated by high values of the polarization degree, measured in ensembles of NWs both as-grown and mechanically transferred onto Si and GaAs substrates, in agreement with the polarization selection rules for WZ crystals. The value of 0.477 eV found here for the bandgap energy of WZ InAs agrees well with theoretical calculations.

We investigate the absorption properties of ensembles of wurtzite (WZ) InP nanowires (NWs) by high-resolution polarization-resolved photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy at T = 10 K. The degree of linear polarization of absorbed light, ρ(abs), resulting from the PLE spectra is governed by a competition between the dielectric mismatch effect and the WZ selection rules acting differently on different optical transitions. These two contributions are deconvoluted with the help of finite-difference time-domain simulations, thus providing information about the symmetry of the three highest valence bands (A, B, and C) of WZ InP and the extent of the spin-orbit interaction on these states. Moreover, ρ(abs) shows two characteristic dips corresponding to the two sharp A and B exciton resonances in the PLE spectra. A model developed for the dip in A provides the first experimental evidence of an enhancement in the dielectric mismatch effect originating from the Coulomb interaction between electron and hole.