Strain-Tuning of the Optical Properties of Semiconductor Nanomaterials by Integration onto Piezoelectric Actuators

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in strain-tuning the optical properties of semiconductor nanomaterials by integrating them onto piezoelectric actuators, enabling controlled, reversible strain for applications in quantum photonics and optoelectronics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of fabrication methods and recent innovations in strain-tunable nanomaterials, highlighting new piezoelectric actuator designs for precise stress control.

Findings

Integration of nanomaterials onto piezoelectric actuators enables reversible strain control.

Recent actuator designs allow full in-plane stress manipulation in nanomembranes.

Strain-tuning enhances the optical and quantum properties of semiconductor nanomaterials.

Abstract

The tailoring of the physical properties of semiconductor nanomaterials by strain has been gaining increasing attention over the last years for a wide range of applications such as electronics, optoelectronics and photonics. The ability to introduce deliberate strain fields with controlled magnitude and in a reversible manner is essential for fundamental studies of novel materials and may lead to the realization of advanced multi-functional devices. A prominent approach consists in the integration of active nanomaterials, in thin epitaxial films or embedded within carrier nanomembranes, onto Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3-based piezoelectric actuators, which convert electrical signals into mechanical deformation (strain). In this review, we mainly focus on recent advances in strain-tunable properties of self-assembled InAs quantum dots embedded in semiconductor nanomembranes and photonic structures. Additionally, recent works on other nanomaterials like rare-earth and metal-ion doped thin films, graphene and MoS2 or WSe2 semiconductor two-dimensional materials are also reviewed. For the sake of completeness, a comprehensive comparison between different procedures employed throughout the literature to fabricate such hybrid piezoelectric-semiconductor devices is presented. Very recently, a novel class of micro-machined piezoelectric actuators have been demonstrated for a full control of in-plane stress fields in nanomembranes, which enables producing energy-tunable sources of polarization-entangled photons in arbitrary quantum dots. Future research directions and prospects are discussed.