Pronounced Purcell enhancement of spontaneous emission in CdTe/ZnTe quantum dots embedded in micropillar cavities Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 132105 (2012) Effects of Co content on the structural, luminescence, and ferromagnetic properties of Zn1−xCoxSy films J. Appl. Phys. 112, 063712 (2012) Mechanisms of infrared photoluminescence in HgTe/HgCdTe superlattice J. Appl. Phys. 112, 063512 (2012) Leaky mode analysis of luminescent thin films: The case of ZnO on sapphire J. Appl. Phys. 112, 063112 (2012) Observation of In-related collective spontaneous emission (superfluorescence) in Cd0.8Zn0.

ZnO tubes were epitaxially grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The tubes grew along the substrate normal and were characterized by hexagon-shaped cross sections. All of the tubes possessed the same epitaxial relationships with respect to the substrate. Both reactor pressure and growth temperature were found to play an important role in the formation of ZnO tubes. Spiral column growth mode was found to be responsible for the formation of ZnO tubes.

ZnO nanorods were synthesized on sapphire (112̄0) substrates by metalorganic vapor deposition. The rods exhibited better crystalline and optical properties than those of ZnO rods formed on sapphire (0001) substrates. The emission due to biexcitons is persistent up to ∼200 K, indicating potential for applications in biexciton-based nanoscale short-wavelength light-emitting photonic devices. The exciton–biexciton energy separation is independent of sample temperature. The band edge emission peak at room temperature is a mixture of free exciton and impurity-related transitions.

Networks consisting of one-dimensional ZnO nanowires and two-dimensional ZnO nanowalls were synthesized using a catalyst-free low-temperature approach. The size of the nanostructure was much smaller than that obtained by the previous catalyst-assisted method. The nanostructures exhibited stable excitonic states at room temperature, and emission due to exciton-exciton scattering was observed.

We successfully realized ZnCdSe quantum dots on a cleavage-induced ZnSe (110) surface by depositing a ZnSe/ZnCdSe/ZnSe heterostructure under growth conditions that cannot lead to layer-by-layer growth of ZnSe. This growth mode introduces surface roughness to the newly deposited ZnSe layer, and ZnCdSe quantum dots are then formed. Cathodoluminescence and microphotoluminescence measurements demonstrate the formation of quantum dots.

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO layers grown on 6H-SiC substrates has been described. The PL spectra were dominated by free exciton (FX) emission throughout the whole temperature range, which reflects shallow nonradiative centers in high crystalline ZnO layers. The temperature-dependent exciton peak energy as well as intensity quenching due to overlapping of FX and D0X (donor-bound exciton) bands has been addressed with an inclusion of donor-bound exciton-like defects. The D0X linewidth of ∼8 meV exhibited the thermal activation energy of ∼16 meV, closely consistent with the exciton-defect binding energy. This particular bound-exciton peak suggests that it dissociates into a FX and a neutral-donor-bound-like defects pair complex with the increase of temperature.

Low-energy cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and spectroscopy technique was employed to study the impurity distribution in individual ZnO hexagonal nanotubes fabricated by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on the sapphire (0001) substrate. The CL spectra at 10 K show that acceptor and donor impurities are incorporated in the ZnO nanotubes. CL monochromatic images indicate that the concentration of donor is higher at the bottom part and the distribution of acceptors is more inhomogeneous at the surface of the nanotubes. The non-uniform defects and impurities distributions are explained by unstable growth conditions and contamination from the environment. These results indicate that the low-energy CL is a very powerful method to investigate the inhomogeneity of luminescence properties in the individual nanostructures.

Structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown on R–Al2O3 substrates by atmospheric pressure chemical-vapor deposition were investigated using x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence. The (112̄0) plane of the ZnO film tilted 0.3° with respect to the (11̄02) plane of the substrate and rotated about 7° around the normal of the sample surface. Symmetric (112̄0) and asymmetric (202̄2) x-ray reflection on ZnO films with different thicknesses were carried out. Comparison with photoluminescence measurements allowed us to conclude that the optical properties of the ZnO films are predominately determined by the in-plane, rather than out-of-plane, structural features.