Sharp exciton emission from single InAs quantum dots in GaAs nanowires

We have performed photoluminescence spectroscopy on single GaAs nanowires with InAs quantum dots in the form of thin slices of InAs, possibly alloyed with Ga as InGaAs, incorporated into the GaAs. The nanowires were grown by chemical beam epitaxy using gold nanoparticles as catalysts. The photoluminescence measurements showed rich spectra consisting of sharp lines with energies and excitation power dependency behavior very similar to that observed for Stranski-Krastanow-grown InAs/GaAs quantum dots. By reducing the excitation power density we were able to obtain a quantum dot spectrum consisting of only one single sharp line-the exciton line. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics