GaAs quantum dots under quasi-uniaxial stress: experiment and theory

TL;DR

This study combines experimental measurements and advanced theoretical modeling to analyze how quasi-uniaxial stress affects the optical properties of GaAs quantum dots, validating computational tools with real data.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive experimental and theoretical analysis of stress effects on GaAs quantum dots, including validation of computational models with experimental parameters.

Findings

Experimental and theoretical results show good agreement.

Strain influences excitonic emission energy and polarization.

Deviations between model and experiment are discussed.

Abstract

The optical properties of excitons confined in initially-unstrained GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots are studied as a function of a variable quasi-uniaxial stress. To allow the validation of state-of-the-art computational tools for describing the optical properties of nanostructures, we determine the quantum dot morphology and the in-plane components of externally induced strain tensor at the quantum dot positions. Based on these \textsl{experimental} parameters, we calculate the strain-dependent excitonic emission energy, degree of linear polarization, and fine-structure splitting using a combination of eight-band ${\bf k}\cdot{\bf p}$ formalism with multiparticle corrections using the configuration interaction method. The experimental observations are quantitatively well reproduced by our calculations and deviations are discussed.