Super-resolution provided by the arbitrarily strong superlinearity of the blackbody radiation

Blackbody radiation is a fundamental phenomenon in nature, and its explanation by Planck marks a cornerstone in the history of Physics. In this theoretical work, we show that the spectral radiance given by Planck's law is strongly superlinear with temperature, with an arbitrarily large local exponent for decreasing wavelengths. From that scaling analysis, we propose a new concept of super-resolved detection and imaging: if a focused beam of energy is scanned over an object that absorbs and linearly converts that energy into heat, a highly nonlinear thermal radiation response is generated, and its point spread function can be made arbitrarily smaller than the excitation beam focus. Based on a few practical scenarios, we propose to extend the notion of super-resolution beyond its current niche in microscopy to various kinds of excitation beams, a wide range of spatial scales, and a broader diversity of target objects

Optical Study of GaAs quantum dots embedded into AlGaAs nanowires

We report on the photoluminescence characterization of GaAs quantum dots embedded into AlGaAs nano-wires. Time integrated and time resolved photoluminescence measurements from both an array and a single quantum dot/nano-wire are reported. The influence of the diameter sizes distribution is evidenced in the optical spectroscopy data together with the presence of various crystalline phases in the AlGaAs nanowires.Comment: 5 page, 5 figure

Growth of Inclined GaAs Nanowires by Molecular Beam Epitaxy: Theory and Experiment

The growth of inclined GaAs nanowires (NWs) during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on the rotating substrates is studied. The growth model provides explicitly the NW length as a function of radius, supersaturations, diffusion lengths and the tilt angle. Growth experiments are carried out on the GaAs(211)A and GaAs(111)B substrates. It is found that 20° inclined NWs are two times longer in average, which is explained by a larger impingement rate on their sidewalls. We find that the effective diffusion length at 550°C amounts to 12 nm for the surface adatoms and is more than 5,000 nm for the sidewall adatoms. Supersaturations of surface and sidewall adatoms are also estimated. The obtained results show the importance of sidewall adatoms in the MBE growth of NWs, neglected in a number of earlier studies

Structure and optical properties of Ge/Si superlattice grown at Si substrate by MBE at different temperatures

Abstract Multilayer structures in silicon containing submonolayers of Ge in the matrix were grown by MBE on Si substrates at different temperatures. An additional peak at 1.068 eV was observed in photoluminescence spectra (PL) from the samples grown at T=600, 650 and 700°C, whereas it was absent in specimens grown at 750°C. Electron microscopy structure investigations showed a high density of spherical, coherent Ge inclusions in samples grown at 650°C, whereas they were not generated at higher growth temperature, such as at 750°C. This fact indicates that the observed PL peak is unambiguously related to the Ge inclusions. High temperature growth at 750°C results in formation of modulated structure where the composition sinusoidally changes with periodicities between 1.2 and 0.44 nm along 113 and 112 directions, respectively. This results in a distortion of the cubic symmetry and in a relaxation of the misfit stress causing changes in the electronic properties

Electrical detection of picosecond acoustic pulses in vertical transport devices with nanowires

Picosecond acoustic pulses, generated in a thin aluminum transducer, are injected into semiconductor vertical transport devices consisting of core-shell GaAsP nanowires. The acoustic pulses induce current pulses in the device with amplitude ∼1 μA. The spectrum of the electrical response is sensitive to the elastic properties of the device and has a frequency cutoff at ∼10 GHz. This work shows the potential of the technique for studies the elastic properties of complex semiconductor nanodevices.Peer reviewe

Effect of the GaAsP shell on optical properties of self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires grown on silicon

We realize growth of self-catalyzed core-shell GaAs/GaAsP nanowires (NWs) on Si substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of single GaAs/GaAsP NWs confirms their high crystal quality and shows domination of the zinc-blende phase. This is further confirmed in optics of single NWs, studied using cw and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). A detailed comparison with uncapped GaAs NWs emphasizes the effect of the GaAsP capping in suppressing the non-radiative surface states: significant PL enhancement in the core-shell structures exceeding 2000 times at 10K is observed; in uncapped NWs PL is quenched at 60K whereas single core-shell GaAs/GaAsP NWs exhibit bright emission even at room temperature. From analysis of the PL temperature dependence in both types of NW we are able to determine the main carrier escape mechanisms leading to the PL quench