High spatial resolution spectroscopy of single semiconductor nanostructures

Low-temperature near-field scanning optical microscopy is used for the first time in spectroscopic studies of single, nanometre dimension, cleaved edge overgrown quantum wires. A direct experimental comparison between a two-dimensional system and a single genuinely one-dimensional quantum wire system, inaccessible to conventional far-field optical spectroscopy, is enabled by the enhanced spatial resolution. We show that the photoluminescence of a single quantum wire is easily distinguished from that of the surrounding quantum well. Emission from localized centres is shown to dominate the photoluminescence from both wires and wells at low temperatures. A factor of three oscillator strength enhancement for these wires compared with the wells is concluded from the photoluminescence excitation data. We also report room-temperature spectroscopy and dynamics of single CdSe nanocrystals. Photochemistry, trap dynamics and spectroscopy are easily determined.