No abstract

Self-organized InAs quantum dashes grown on In0.53Ga0.23Al0.24As∕InP have been investigated by chemically sensitive scanning transmission electron microscopy. The quantum dashes, which consist of pure InAs, exhibit a triangular cross section. Most important, the quantum dash size depends linearly on the nominal InAs layer thickness and can be varied by a factor of 3 without changing the height∕width ratio. Thus, the emission wavelength can be controlled between 1.37 and 1.9μm without modifying shape and composition of the quantum dashes by adjusting a single growth parameter.

Long wavelength lasers and semiconductor optical amplifiers based on InAs quantum wire-/dot-like active regions were developed on InP substrates dedicated to cover the extended telecommunication wavelength range between 1.4 and 1.65 µm. In a brief overview different technological approaches will be discussed, while in the main part the current status and recent results of quantum-dash lasers are reported. This includes topics like dash formation and material growth, device performance of lasers and optical amplifiers, static and dynamic properties and fundamental material and device modelling.

We describe a theoretical model for the linear optical gain properties of a quantum wire assembly and compare it to the well known case of a quantum dot assembly. We also present a technique to analyze the gain of an optical amplifier using bias dependent room temperature amplified spontaneous emission spectra. Employing this procedure in conjunction with the theoretical gain model, we demonstrate that InAs/InP quantum dash structures have quantum-wire-like characteristics. The procedure was used to extract the net gain coefficient, the differential gain, and the relative current component contributing to radiative recombination.

Photoreflectance (PR) measurements have been performed on InAs∕In0.53Ga0.23Al0.24As quantum dashes (QDashes) molecular-beam epitaxy grown on InP substrate. The PR features related to all relevant parts of the structure have been detected, including the ground and excited state optical transitions in QDashes. QDash ground state transition shifts from 1.5 to almost 2μm with the increase in the thickness of InAs layer, corresponding to the increase in the average size of the dashes. Excited state transitions have been clearly observed at the energy of about 150meV above the ground state transition energy.