Abstract

Low-dimensional semiconductor quantum nanostructures, particularly quantum wires (QWRs) and quantum dots (QDs), have been predicted to exhibit many properties useful for applications in nove1 optoelectronic devices [ 11. The potential advantage of these structured materials arises from the extremely small volume of their charge carrier confinement regions as well as the modification in their optical absorption and emission spectra owing to the multidimensional quantum confinement. The expected narrowing in the absorption and luminescence spectra, the increase in exciton binding energy, new possibilities for control of polarization anisotropy, the enhanced peak absorption and optical gain, and the reduced transparency current should be useful for improving the performance and reducing the power consumption of optical modulators, switches and lasers. The potential for power consumption reduction is especially attractive for the realization of densely-packed integrated optoelectronic circuits.

© 1996 Optical Society of America