Effect of rapid thermal annealing on the luminescence of self-assembled InAs quantum dots embedded in GaAs-based photonic crystal nanocavities

Postgrowth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was used to modify the optical properties of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a photonic crystal nanocavity. Compared with the reference QDs in the unpatterned regions, it was found that the effect of RTA on the luminescence blueshift of QDs embedded in the nanocavities is similar to that from the unpatterned regions. However, InAs QDs in nanocavities exhibit an anomalous variation of luminescent linewidth during the course of RTA. This could be attributed to the deterioration of InAs QDs at the edge of photonic crystal air holes at high annealing temperatures. The stable position of cavity modes during the RTA temperatures shows the RTA technique could be applied to tune the spectral coupling of QDs/cavities when the QD spectra are on the red side of a cavity mode.

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► QDs inside cavities show an abnormal variation of luminescent linewidth during the RTA.
► The position of cavity modes is stable during the RTA processes.
► The RTA technique could be applied to tuning the coupling of QDs/cavity.