Full length articleUniaxial strain induced optical properties of complex type-II InGaAs/InAs/GaAsSb nano-scale heterostructure

Semiconducting heterostructures offer an extra degree of flexibility in terms of tuning of optical gain and transition energies or wavelengths. Modifications in the wave functions and alterations in optical transitions in binary and ternary QW (quantum well) heterostructures due to external uniaxial strain provide valuable insights on the optical characteristics of the heterostructure. In this paper, we have reported the effect of uniaxial strain along [001], [100] and [110] on the optical properties such as optical gain, and optical transition energies of W − shaped complex type-II InGaAs/InAs/GaAsSb nano-scale heterostructure consisting of two quantum wells of InAs material using the six band k.p theory. On the basis of results obtained in the work, it can be reported that the TE and TM optical gain can be enhanced by application of uniaxial strain along [110] only. It is also reported that application of strain along [001] is useful for improvement of TE optical gain while strain along [100] is useful for TM optical gain. Thus, for the type-II InGaAs/InAs/GaAsSb nano-heterostructure TE and TM gain and as well as transition energies can be controlled by the application of uniaxial strain along the choice of direction.