Strong enhancement of terahertz emission from GaAs in InAs/GaAs quantum dot structures

Abstract

We report on the intense terahertz emission from InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Results reveal that the QD sample emission was as high as 70% of that of a p-type InAs wafer, the most intense semiconductor emitter to date. Excitation wavelength studies showed that the emission was due to absorption in strained undoped GaAs, and corresponds to a two order-of-magnitude enhancement. Moreover, it was found that multilayer QDs emit more strongly compared with a single layer QD sample. At present, we ascribe the intense radiation to huge strain fields at the InAs/GaAs interface.