Strain-induced lateral confinement of excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well by chemical dry etching

HCl radical beam etching has been used to produce strain-induced lateral confinement of excitons in a GaAs quantum well. This confinement was generated by etching a grating pattern into a strained layer of In0.35Ga0.65As which overlies the GaAs quantum well. Atomic force microscopy was used to examine the etched surface morphology. Photoluminescence and excitation photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to detect the optical transitions. The after-etch photoluminescence intensity and the systematic peak shift with etch time indicate the degree of control and low-damage nature of the etch process used.