Polarization dependence of the absorption coefficient for an array of strained quantum wires

Abstract

The polarization dependence of the absorption coefficient for compressively and tensilely strained quantum wires is investigated as a function of strain, the lateral wire width, and the ratio between the wire and barrier widths. The results are markedly different from the case of an unstrained quantum wire and exhibit a significant variation with the sign and amount of built‐in strain. In the case of compressive strain, absorption of light polarized in the growth direction is considerably suppressed near the band edge, while the ratio between the absorption coefficients for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the wire is determined by the relative prominence of strain and quantum confinement effects. A discussion of how these results can be applied to characterization of the achieved quantum confinement by polarization‐resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy is given. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.