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Fully epitaxial microcavities

College Park, MD (June 17, 2010) — For the very first time, a team of researchers in Germany has introduced quantum dots in fully epitaxial nitride laser structures without the need for hybrid systems — effectively eliminating the cumbersome method of combining different materials from epitaxy and evaporation. This should help pave the way to a further optimization of lasers and single photon emitters in the visible spectrum region, according to the team. A detailed description of their findings appears in the journal Applied Physics Letters, which is published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

“Gallium-nitride-based laser diodes are very promising materials for the development of efficient light sources in the UV-blue to green spectral region. They’re already in use, for example, in BluRay (high-data-storage disc) players,” explains Kathrin Sebald, the optics team’s senior postdoctoral researcher from the University of Bremen’s Institute of Solid State Physics. “By reducing the size of the optically active material down to the nanometer scale (quantum dots), the efficiency of such devices can be increased much further — opening the door to the use of quantum optoelectronic effects.”

When combined with optical microcavities, the emitted light can be confined to ultra-small volumes by resonant recirculation. In such quantum optical devices, microcavities can coax quantum dots to emit spontaneous photons in a desired direction, which leads to an enormously increased output, Sebald notes. Applications of these devices are as diverse as their properties.

The article, ” Optical properties of InGaN quantum dots in monolithic pillar microcavities” by Kathrin Sebald et al will appear in the journal Applied Physics Letters. See: http://apl.aip.org/

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ABOUT Applied Physics Letters


Applied Physics Letters, published by the American Institute of Physics, features concise, up-to-date reports on significant new findings in applied physics. Emphasizing rapid dissemination of key data and new physical insights, Applied Physics Letters offers prompt publication of new experimental and theoretical papers bearing on applications of physics phenomena to all branches of science, engineering, and modern technology. Content is published online daily, collected into weekly online and printed issues (52 issues per year). See: http://apl.aip.org/

ABOUT AIP


The American Institute of Physics is a federation of 10 physical science societies representing more than 135,000 scientists, engineers, and educators and is one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific information in the physical sciences. Offering partnership solutions for scientific societies and for similar organizations in science and engineering, AIP is a leader in the field of electronic publishing of scholarly journals. AIP publishes 12 journals (some of which are the most highly cited in their respective fields), two magazines, including its flagship publication Physics Today; and the AIP Conference Proceedings series. Its online publishing platform Scitation hosts nearly two million articles from more than 185 scholarly journals and other publications of 28 learned society publishers.




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