Photoluminescence study of the effect of strain compensation on InAs/AlAsSb quantum dots

We investigate stacked structures of InAs/AlAsSb/InP quantum dots using temperature- and power-dependent photoluminescence. The band gap of InAs/AlAsSb QDs is 0.73 eV at room temperature, which is close to the ideal case for intermediate band solar cells. As the number of quantum dot layers is increased, the photoluminescence undergoes a blue-shift due to the effects of accumulated compressive strain. This PL red shift can be counteracted using thin layers of AlAs to compensate the strain. We also derive thermal activation energies for this exotic quantum dot system.