Growth and characterization of InP/In0.48Ga0.52P quantum dots optimized for single-photon emission

In this work the growth of self-assembled InP/InGaP quantum dots, as well as their optical and structural properties are presented and discussed. The QDs were grown on In0.48Ga0.52P, lattice matched to GaAs. Self-assembled InP quantum dots are grown using gas-source molecular beam epitaxy over a wide range of InP deposition rates, using an ultra-low growth rate of about 0.01 atomic monolayers/s, a quantum-dot density of 1 dot/μm2 is realized. The resulting isolated InP quantum dots are individually characterized without the need for lithographical patterning and masks on the substrate. Both excitonic and biexcitonic emissions are observed from single dots, appearing as doublets with a fine-structure splitting of 320 μeV. Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlation measurements for the excitonic emission under cw excitation show anti-bunching behavior with an autocorrelation value of g(2)(0)=0.2. This system is applicable as a single-photon source for applications such as quantum cryptography. The formation of well-ordered chains of InP quantum dots on GaAs (001) substrates by using self-organized In0.48Ga0.52P surface undulations as a template is also demonstrated. The ordering requires neither stacked layers of quantum dots nor substrate misorientation. The structures are investigated by polarization-dependent photoluminescence together with transmission electron microscopy. Luminescence from the In0.48Ga0.52P matrix is polarized in one crystallographic direction due to anisotropic strain arising from a lateral compositional modulation. The photoluminescence measurements show enhanced linear polarization in the alignment direction of quantum dots. A polarization degree of 66% is observed. The optical anisotropy is achieved with a straightforward heterostructure, requiring only a single layer of QDs.